The drug war is working; there's been "a 50% reduction in 'drug use' since 1979"

 POLITICAL HOGWASH 

The statement above is often used to encourage the public to continue the drug war. It is a monument to the duplicity of official pronouncements about the drug war. 

* The statement implies that the decline in "drug use" is a significant measure. It isn't. Addiction, the real problem, increased over the same period. [1] 

* The statement implies that the drug war produced the change. It didn't. 

[2] Prohibition makes already dangerous drugs much more dangerous.  

See: Prohibition

* The figure is presented as "fact" even though the speakers should know full well that it is a highly questionable estimate. 

[3] Prohibition multiplies the harm done to the public by drug abuse and to the abusers themselves. 

 See: Prohibition

* There are other measures of estimated "use" that contradict the conjecture that "drug use" decreased. [4] 

* The statement is often coupled with a claim that there has been a huge decrease in cocaine use. To attribute this to the drug war is strange. How did the drug war come up with a strategy that worked for exactly one drug and only one drug ? [5] 

* A basic test of drug war "success" is the willingness of the young to break the law and try an illegal drug. By age 22, about 62% have done this. 

See: 62% Use