Reading some articles the war on smoking is probably a better example than prohibition, as alcohol's detrimental effects are more immediate and increase faster on consumption compared to drugs along with delivery mechanism. The US has definitely messed up on the war on drugs in many ways but it's dangerous not to be aware that it's also a war being waged on America by other countries much like Britain on China with opium. Unfortunately the US priorities business over taking countries to task, it's a war of attrition if drug producers just hide behind borders. The US faltered on anti drug use messaging and was behind the curve on regulating legal opiates