Drug laws have been around a lot longer than 40 years

The enforcement and penalties were rewritten in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controlled_Substances_Act. I'm not sure what your point is here.

In other words to motivate idiots to act on their stupidity.

Couldn't you criticize all advocacy on the same basis?

Spread awareness mean "make more people aware that position X exists and has advocates, even if they don't agree".

Re mandatory sentences, the ones for drug crimes were enacted because drugs crimes were increasing? Then if you concede that drug laws are wrong, those sentences shouldn't happen either.

The same European countries that have given up enforcing any sense of order in large parts of their major cities.

Which country are you talking about? Norway has a maximum, and does better than the US. http://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/compare/Norway/United-States/Crime

I haven't studied this in depth, but where's the argument that the US's prison system has led to better outcomes?