A government is perfectly capable of doing proliferation and interdiction at the same time. On interdiction and enforcement the USG has spent over a trillion dollars and incarcerated millions since war was declared in the '70s. That ain't nothing.
That makes it sound like there was some sort of plan or strategy to try to end abuse of illegal drugs. There wasn't. First they propped up cartels in order to sell drugs. Then when our people got addicted to them, they passed draconian laws to punish the drug addicts (and marginalized communities that have no way to live except drugs). And finally they invaded and destabilized a country, enabling the mass production of cheap opium/heroin, which was sold to our citizens. The trillions of dollars and millions put in jail was to incarcerate our own citizens that we got hooked on drugs in the first place. The war wasn't on drugs, it was on communism and poor minorities.
