Let me clear something up, part 1

The drug czar has a particularly heinous post in approvingly linking to an ignorant article in the Scotsman.

Yuppies’ ‹Cocaine Soaked with Innocent BloodŠ […]

Wood accused thousands of middle-class cocaine users of being ‹morally and politically irresponsible,Š and spoke of plans for a new anti-drug campaign.

The article in the Scotsman talks about trying to educate people about how their drug use fuels violence, etc., etc., and suggests a bold new strategy of encouraging socially aware young people to choose not to use drugs in order to save the world.
The problem with this strategy, of course, is that those young people actually have a brain in their heads. They instinctively know (because they are not complete morons) that the real problem is the drug war.
Now, let me say this clearly for the idiot drug warriors out there…

1. Yes, if everyone stopped using all illicit drugs, then the violence associated with the drug trade would stop. However, this is not even a theoretical possibility. This is like saying that if everyone in the world gave up sex, there would be no STDs. True, but completely irrelevant, because it is not humanly achievable.
2. The drug war and its associated violence, on the other hand, can be eliminated through legalization. This is not only theoretically possible, but we’ve even done it in the past (with alcohol).
3. Seeing those who propagate the drug war and its violence claim the moral high ground is offensive.

So to recap:
Ending drug war violence by eliminating drug use: Not possible.
Ending drug war violence by eliminating the drug war: Possible.