Cocaine is a drug that will not go away. Since the 1970s, it has been a remarkably resilient opponent in America's war on drugs. Although cocaine use has declined from the highs of the 1980s, addiction rates have remained stable since 1991 and few new strategies have appeared to further reduce its presence in America. Deciding how best to proceed is complicated by mounting complaints from critics who question whether the limited results of America's war on cocaine justify the extremely high costs.

The monetary costs to the American taxpayers of the war against cocaine can only be estimated. The federal budget for all drug enforcement shows multiple allotments totaling about $25 billion annually, slightly more than half of which is spent seizing and controlling cocaine and crack. This figure, however, fails...