Each year the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) issues its National Drug Control Strategy. In 1997 the report included a new ten-year plan to reduce drug use and availability 50 percent by 2007. To meet this goal, the United States will spend roughly $17 billion each year from 1999 through 2003. The strategy’s top priority goal is to reduce youth drug use. The second goal is to reduce crime through law enforcement and drug treatment for prisoners. The remaining three goals are to provide treatment for addicts, prevent drugs from entering the United States, and destroy drug-trafficking organizations and sources of supply.

Supporters of this continued war on drugs believe similar policies were responsible for the dramatic decline in drug use during the ’80s and ’90s—since 1992, levels of drug use have been 50 percent below...