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Rewriting the cost of the war on drugs

How long do you fight a war that cannot be won? Lawrence O'Donnell asked the both moral and political question in the latest Rewrite.

How long do you fight a war that cannot be won? Lawrence O'Donnell asked the both moral and political question in the latest Rewrite. We fought the Vietnam War long past the point when we knew we could not win, and in the process sent 58,193 Americans to die there in a 14-year period. America's so-called War on Drugs to end illegal drug consumption is now 41-years-old. How's that for perspective? 

The war plan was simple: the price of drugs would be driven sky-high as the government seized more and more drugs and made drugs more rare — and therefore, way more expensive. That hasn't been the case in reality. While well-intentioned, it has left countless victims in its wake while only driving the cost of many drugs down.

Eduardo Porter reported last month in the New York Times that, according to Drug Enforcement Administration data, the street price of one gram of pure cocaine is in fact 74 percent cheaper than it was 30 years ago.

So, again, we ask how long do you fight a war that cannot be won?