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Same problem with people hopping turnstyles in the 80's. They increased the severity of the punishment and lo behold the crime went down.

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Some people were having trouble with guys on the corner smoking pot in the 80s. So we started the war in drugs. Lo And behold crime went down.... Oh wait..

I know you're being facetious, but it's much more difficult to evaluate risk/rewards ratio for drug use, and the motivation for engaging in it is less linked to this ratio than for other crimes.

Though I say that, and think back to Prohibition... which didn't involve the same addictive properties to which I'd attribute these properties of the War on Drugs, so I doubt myself.

I don't have answers either. You need punishment to prevent some crimes I think. But at some point it stops helping and it just hurts. Or perhaps we need another way to influence behavior. State mandated morality? Meh

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