1 Because you cannot win a war on drugs, repression of something in high demand will only serve to make it more profitable and as profitability goes up, so does the incentive to smuggle and the corruption goes up with it.
Portugal had a drug endemic, when they came out of their dictatorship...and it remained problematic till they decided to change it up and stop treating users as criminals but as patients..
The right wing balked at the idea , but when it was implemented , Portugal got it it under control, drug usage dropped, they have low Overdose death rates and drug related crime.
They have had several right wing governments since, but none of them even thought about overturning the socialist idea of helping the addicts instead of repressing and jailing them. That should tell you something.
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/dec/05/portugals-radical-drugs-policy-is-working-why-hasnt-the-world-copied-it
It does not work to work on the supply side if there's an endless demand.
Low Supply/ High Demand = High profit
Clearly the only way to deal with it, is to work on reducing the demand.
Listing drug busts in a monetary value also doesn't help, because it simply advertises "hey, this is good business"
The drug lords giggle a bit when they hear so much value was destroyed. because to them it means the stuff that DID get through became more valuable.
If anything the supply that got busted should be tested, certified, and sold for cheap on the street instead.
Now THAT would piss off the cartels big style
They would send their hitman over the border to shoot your politicians, and that's the obvious reason nobody does it.
2 If you make the incarceration a profitable business, then that as well opens up the way to corruption because well, those who make profit see no benefit in fixing the problem.
And obviously nobody has figured out to make a buck off social work, else that would be a way to fix the problem, but plenty people are making profit off incarceration, either through running the prisons or by providing related services.
Clearly that's part of the problem, because where you have profit, you will have lobbyists to sway politicians in sustaining that business.
I'm sure if the incarceration biz stands to be wiped out due to a change in policy.. the Capitalists behind it would probably help the Sicario's sent by the Cartel to help em schwack the politicians responsible
They both have a vested interest in keeping things running as they are.
I'm sure they,Cartel bosses and prison bosses a like, all vacation in the same resorts over in Europe, hang out with the Oligarchs and other big money scum
1&2 : Get the profit out of the equation and it goes away.