The drug war doesn't work. You can not solve a public health problem using criminal law enforcment. There is no evidence that prohibition is a cost effective method of limiting or reducing drug-related damage. Even though over last few years arrest rates went up in both the USA and Japan, hard drugs have become cheaper in both countries. Cannabis is not physically addictive.
Few users develop a psychological dependence.
There are fewer problem users amongst cannabis users than amongst users of legal drugs. We should target our resources not on specific substances but on specific people. First we should make accurate information available. Most people avoid bad risks if they are given enough information. To those who still run into health or other problems we should then offer help, whether they abuse alcohol, methamphetamine, nicotine or even cannabis.