I agree, it has been a failure, but as another poster mentioned, non-Burgerland restrictions on some of the most harmful drugs (as in actually harmful, not some kid with a joint) did have a positive societal effect under socialism.

I suppose the memory of Prohibition (and the ever-vaguer legend of it as it fades further into history) is something some people cling to no matter what, as a sort of indirect American Exceptionalism that implies that if Burgerland failed at it (and how could it not fail considering how easily accessible and everywhere alcohol has always been, and how corrupt the cops were all along) that no restrictions are possible whatsoever, nor should any ever be put in place no matter how harmful the thing in question.

EDIT: The “war on drugs” has technically been a success if one considers it started under Nixon as a means to imprison black people.