To the population that buys, sells, uses, steals, and relies on hard drugs for their livelihood, a jail term is a nuisance. A cost of doing business. At the very least, they get dealers and users off the street, reducing the proportion of their lives in which they can prey on everyone else. But manifestly they are not enough. If they were, the problem would be solved already.
Drugs are an unacceptable threat to our nation.
They are destroying our communities. They are directly or indirectly responsible for at least half the nation' s total crime. Through history they have debauched populations. They make human existence less than fully human. We are at war, and must act as if we are.