What do you mean, pointless? The War on Drugs has enormous benefits for certain kinds of people.
Let me list you some. It keeps the restless natives in check. It's a good excuse for expanding all kinds of the power of the state. It's an excellent excuse for just confiscating people's wealth and as such it funds a large portion of the prison-industrial complex. It provides lots of prisoners for the said prison-industrial complex.
How can you keep civilization running without keeping everyone fearful of the Holy... err.. Evil Trinity of drug lords, child pornographers, and international terrorists? X-/
Maybe you want to talk about the agency problem with your elected officials -- in that case try down the corridor, Mr. Barnard; room 12.
You are straw-manning. The war on drugs almost certainly reduces drug consumption and has almost certainly stopped lots of people from having their lives ruined by drugs.
India vs. Pakistan: the nuclear option is dangerously close, and nobody seems to want to prevent it
http://qz.com/541502/a-nuclear-war-between-india-and-pakistan-is-a-very-real-possibility/