An undercover cop who abandoned the war on drugs
    > The argument Woods heard more than any other
    > from his colleagues was: yes, the war on drugs
    > is hard to win, but just because lots of people
    > burgle houses that’s no reason to legalise
    > burglary, so we shouldn’t legalise drugs just
    > because so many people take them.

The counter-argument to this is simple: Outlawing burglary works because people aren't addicted to burglary. (Well, except for a small number of actual kleptomaniacs.) Criminalization is not an effective treatment for addiction, but it's perfectly fine for dissuading other non-addictive behaviors.