I think that whatever we do with drugs, lots and lots of people are going to suffer. I'm not claiming that on net that the drug war is good, just that it almost certainly stops many people from getting addicted to drugs. I would still favor legalization of most drugs, but I admit enacting this position will have significant (although probably not net) costs. The fact that most Americans support keeping lots of drugs illegal probably shows that most Americans recognize that legalizing all drugs would push up drug consumption and create more wasted lives and more collateral damage from drug users.