One of the biggest drains on the U.S. government's budget is the Drug War. Billions of dollars a year are spent to mostly put non-violent offenders in jail. Obviously drug abuse is not conducive to a productive society, but it is also lucrative for bureaucracy and government corruption. The danger with any type of bureaucracy is that it employees people who need to continue to justify their funding. In the worst case scenario this need will grow into full corruption. The drug war has done just that in America.
    All throughout time drugs have been a money and power generating business. You can look at time periods going back to the beginning of history or as recently as the Opium Wars or prohibition in the 1920's, and you will see powerful people looking to make money off of the drug trades of their days. Some of the most wealthy families of today made their fortunes through the drug trade past and present. In our modern times those who seek to make money off of drugs have found a new way. This bureaucracy is that method.
    As the drugs have been made illegal the war against these drugs have only increased exponentially. With the billions now needed to fund all of the people that fight this drug war the need to justify these expenditures grow. The best way(as with most things)  to ensure these budgets to keep increasing is to make the problem at the same time. This has been shown time and time again. Everyone has heard the rumors of the government shipping in the drugs or police dealing drugs. As they do this it is possible to make money off of selling the drugs while creating the excuse to increase there funding to fight the same drugs.
    Here in America the fact of this practice has become public in the past. However attempted to downplay more recently the Iran Contra Affair is the most well know on a federal level. It is also known in many large cities that certain police work in conjunction with drug traffickers for information and kickbacks.
     Recently there has been a new story that is shinning light on U.S. involvement in drugs coming into America. Federal documents are showing that the U.S. may have let the Sinaloa drug cartel traffic cocaine into the country for intelligence on rival drug cartels involved in the Mexican drug wars. Vicente Zambada-Niebla who is a top lieutenant of drug kingpin Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman and the son of Ismael "Mayo" Zambada-Garcia (possible master mind of the Sinaloa cartel) is shedding light on how Sinaloa was allowed to bring drugs into the U.S. 
    This is coming on the heels of major revelations in the fast and furious scandal. Zambada-Niebla is asking for documents to be presented showing a link between these two scandals and America attempting to divide and concur the drug cartels for their own gains. 
    The real point of this story is the drug war is a scam. You can not rightly put people in jail for something you do business in as well. It is akin to a complicated for of entrapment. Anyway, the constitution of the U.S. doesn't give the right to the government to regulate food or drugs. So, the next time you see someone arrested for some cocaine, ask yourself if that came through channels that the government opened up is that right to arrest that person and ruin their livelihood anymore than the drug already does on its own? Seems like undue punishment.