End the war on drugs

The United States has been fighting a war on drugs since the early 1970's. Countless people have been killed in the United States and Mexico and billions of dollars have been spent with no real impact on the availability, quality, and demand for drugs in the United States. The United States has the largest prison population per capita in the world and a majority of prisoners are serving time for drug related offenses. Obviously the legalization of all drugs will have a negative outcome as was the case in the early 20th century but it should be noted that all illicit drugs pose varying levels of harm. In conculsion, this petition seeks to promote a the restructuring our drug laws to be less costly and more effective treating addiction as a heath problem not a criminal justice issue.