&gt;&gt; &quot;...beholden to retrograde moralizing.&quot;<p>I wish that was the only reason for the drug war, but moralizing is probably a relatively minor factor. I claim the bigger reasons are:<p>1) The prison-industrial complex is large and politically powerful, and it needs drug &quot;criminals&quot;<p>2) Many recreational drugs make the working populace less productive. They&#x27;d be blowing lines of coke and screwing each other all day or giggling at Spongebob after smoking a bowl instead of diligently churning out more boxes at the packing plant. Drugs that make you more productive are perfectly legal and widely prescribed (Adderall etc).<p>3) Many popular drugs are easily produced at home in quantities appropriate for individual use. You can trivially grow enough weed at home to support a serious habit. The man hates that and prefers drugs that are only amenable to production on a vast industrial scale, such that monopoly, taxation, and centralized control of production are easy. Tobacco and the aforementioned psychostimulants are the <i>ne plus ultra</i> industrial-only drugs; it&#x27;s no cooincidence that they&#x27;re quite legal.