According to the CATO Institute, ending prohibition would save an annual $41 billion of expenditure while generating an estimated $46 billion in tax revenues. 

http://www.cato.org/pubs/wtpapers/DrugProhibitionWP.pdf

Thanks to Prohibition we now have a far higher percentage of our own citizens locked in cages than any other nation on the whole planet. Apart from the fact that these extra prisoners are not contributing economically to society, it also costs 50,000 dollars per annum to incarcerate them. Additionally their families often go on government assistance, and it's again the average tax payer who has to pick up the bill. Their kids may be taken into care or raised by foster parents, again with tax payer money. Now add to all this the court costs, jail costs, and the salaries of all those people that have to deal with the enforcement of prohibition, like police officers, judges and public defenders and you'll start to get a fair idea of why "Black Thursday", October 24, 1929 happened during the period of another of our great experiments - Alcohol Prohibition.

* The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world. 

* 743 adults incarcerated per 100,000 population at year-end 2009.

* 2,292,133 adults were incarcerated in federal and state prisons, and county jails at year-end 2009, that's approx. 1% of US adults.

* Additionally, 4,933,667 adults at year-end 2009 were on probation or parole.

* In 2009, 7,225,800 adults were under correctional supervision (probation,parole, or incarcerated) - about 3.1% of adults in the U.S. resident population.

During alcohol prohibition, all profits went to enrich thugs and criminals. Young men died every day on inner-city streets while battling over turf. A fortune was wasted on enforcement that could have gone on education, etc. On top of the budget-busting prosecution and incarceration costs, billions in taxes were lost. Finally, the economy collapsed. Sound familiar?

Prohibition causes massive crime and suffering, causes government/police corruption, causes America to have the highest prison population of any country in the history of the planet, causes Americans to lose all their rights and all their true core-values, causes the waste of trillions in taxpayer dollars, causes wars, violence and death (at home and abroad),  perpetuates racism, causes America to be hated by other countries, and funds both criminals and terrorists.

How can one add to that.  We are lunatics.

This isn't true at all.  There's no proof this article has any validity in it.  First of all, let's take a trip to the 1980's to view why: Russia invaded Afghanistan and had a long bloody war (15,000 dead Russians) with Afghanistan, whom Russia invaded.  No way was the U.S. and Britain going to let Afghanistan fall to Russia.  No way was Britain and America going to use all tax payer money . . . funds coming from taxpayers had to be limited based on the fact it was not an overt (announced) American involvement in the arming of the Afghani and Pakistani militants/military.  Before the 80's, Afghanistan and Pakistan were little mom and pop Hash/Opium stores, but during and after the war of the 1980's, the CIA helped the locals in Pakistan and Afghanistan farm more opium and encouraged more heroin factories to make the poppy into smack, thus making more money and not sending raw opium to only Russia, China and Iran for processing into heroin.  The CIA has a long history with heroin and drugs (China, Air America, Iran-Contra, South of Franc, Italy etc).  Thus a huge chunk of what conquered the Soviet Union and restored the Afghan government was drug money . . . Before the war, Burma and Indo-China were the main heroin hubs.  In the year 2000, the Taliban forced less than a 100% ban on opium growing, thus causing the rest of the world to not be prepared for the shortage, thus causing a spike in heroin prices (supply and demand) for what few dozen tons of heroin were actually produced in Afghanistan.  In 2001, 9/11 happened.  According to the NY Times, just a bit over half a million dollars was what it cost to plan and finance 9/11 . . .  something like drug money would be covert enough to utilize.  Afghanistan has no munitions factories and neither does Iraq -so how do they get their war supplies -what funds them?  Oil money has too much accountability to corporations and shareholders and workers to be funneled significantly in the direction of funding terrorism (oil funding terrorism is bad for business) and legal money like taxes and oil are covert, thus placing the blame on the nation or corporation -which would call for boycotts and further sanctions.  Illegal drug money is covert.  State Sponsored terrorism has more to gain by using seized drug money and designated dealers than from tax money and other legal money . . . its easier to deny using drug money if one's nation doesn't condone drugs via outlawing drugs (like in Iran or America).  Most drug dealers selling coke, heroin or weed are Muslim in Asia, Africa and Europe -only x% of them use that drug money to fund terrorism . . . entities like Al Qaeda and Hezbollah can be organized enough to buy dope in bulk, protect large growers and their traffickers and move it . . . since drugs are not illegal when its used for the glory of Allah (Fatwa), selling drugs like heroin isn't wrong and thus not shunned.  Most of whom we fight in Afghanistan and Iraq are funded by drug money (a few million a year go a long way in 3rd world nations -war is more than weapons its clothing, gasoline, vehicles, food and making sure fighters families are taken care of after death -just like ours in the U.S.).  9/11 forced us to be in a ten plus year war on two fronts . . . America spends $2billion a week in the War on Terror fighting drug money and fixing what drug money can blow up or corrupt or influence . . . Brown University and the NY Times states that 9/11 and her two wars will cost America over Three Trillion.  Remember all the anti-drug commercials coming out after 9/11 blaming drug users for funding terrorism (more true if you are a European drug user or heroin user)?  The U.S. spends well over $144 Billion a year to keep drugs illegal . . . would you not count fighting drug money in Iraq to be a part of the War on Drugs bill of sale $?  Keeping drugs illegal created the funding for 9/11 and our enemies whom we fight . . . drug prohibition created our war on terror . . . how else are gangs and mafias funded . . . why else would you expect to see so many Italian Mobsters and Latin American cartels in American Military ran Baghdad prisons for insurgents and terrorists?

HEY MAN .... im the heroin guy around here

wait a minute if there was a shortage in the late 90s-early 2000's of dope and of spiked prices then id love to know where that happened so i can feel bad for my fellow junkies getting ripped off on $ - but i really dont think your right about that.... i can tell you that, dealers come and dealers go yea but i dont recall any spikes in prices related to any taliban stuff man i seriously i mean sure there are market differences not just in this country but obviously everywhere and yeah i got my 20 dollar guys my 15 and 10 and 7 and once in awhile my 5 dollar guys but 20s are always 20s caus they ARE 20s as in 20 bags, unless your a real idiot or a newbie to the dope world and just let yourself get ripped off on some kinda finders fee or middleman tax you know dude thats ridiculous. NYC is the heroin capital of the US with my hometown city of portland Oregon being number 2 which im quite proud of given its size in comparison to everywhere else but ORE dope sucks black tar is ehhh whatever to each their own, anyway not only that brother but i travelled the country and other countries as well in that time period and i dont recall any practical verbage of what your talking about or change in price. none. im just one junkie, but thats my 2 cent my 2 bags...if you will