Likewise, repeatedly augmented efforts to prevent the entry of drugs into the United States have had scant effect. Hardliners continued to express confidence that the tide of battle could be turned if we persisted and committed more resources. President Lyndon B. Johnson accepted curbs of his beloved War on Poverty in order to step up the war in Asia. Similarly, the costs of the Drug War keep rising. In both wars, many prisoners were taken.
Police now make more than a million drug arrests annually.
The Drug War accounts for 60 percent of all federal prisoners and 30 percent of all state prisoners. But the enemy's ranks are always replenished. The Viet Cong kept recruiting new soldiers and civilian supporters. Likewise the drug dealers. Drug demand remains high.