The Drug War continues despite its moral and pragmatic failures because it is intensely meaningful. Although sacred violence varies in form and intensity, it tends to follow a ritualized recipe. Sacred violence starts with a cultural narrative that proclaims the tribe's values and why they must be preserved. Mixing legend and history, the mythic narrative describes the triumph over evil enemies and the blessing of the gods that marked the tribe's origins. The cultural narrative or myth justifies the bloodshed.
Innocent victims die, but it's for the greater good of ritually affirming tribal values.
The Drug War fits the pattern of sacred violence precisely. They appeal by turn to science, coercion, and morality to bolster anti-drugism. To fend off pangs of pity, the ritual executioner must cover the victim's face and gag his mouth-disidentifying him as a fellow human being and silencing his cry to be spared. America's courts silence our Drug War victims decisively, hiding their faces behind prison walls, revising our cultural theme of personal freedom to accommodate anti-drugism. The civil rights of druggies are rarely part of the news story.