I wish that was the only reason for the drug war, but moralizing is probably a relatively minor factor. I claim the bigger reasons are:
1) The prison-industrial complex is large and politically powerful, and it needs drug "criminals"
2) Many recreational drugs make the working populace less productive. They'd be blowing lines of coke and screwing each other all day or giggling at Spongebob after smoking a bowl instead of diligently churning out more boxes at the packing plant. Drugs that make you more productive are perfectly legal and widely prescribed (Adderall etc).
3) Many popular drugs are easily produced at home in quantities appropriate for individual use. You can trivially grow enough weed at home to support a serious habit. The man hates that and prefers drugs that are only amenable to production on a vast industrial scale, such that monopoly, taxation, and centralized control of production are easy. Tobacco and the aforementioned psychostimulants are the ne plus ultra industrial-only drugs; it's no cooincidence that they're quite legal.
Politicians continue to support a war effort which has murdered millions in the ME, they continue to turn a blind eye to torture, and hold the innocent in jails without trial.
So yeah, all three groups are about as bad as each other.
That's like saying "The fall of moral civilization has always been brought about by those who "eat food on a regular basis"".
Nobody would use "I was just eating food on a regular basis" as a defense against blame for misdeeds, which the GP's quote (referencing the Nuremberg defense and similar things events of disavowing blame for evil acts) would be commenting upon.
How much harm do we cause the enviroment by eating the food we eat on a regular basis?
How many people are killed and lives and futures destroyed by people that ard perfectly justified in doing their jobs?
Evil isn't just for comic book super villians, nor does it require any sort of ill intent at all. Look around at your life, and the choices you and others make and ask (honestly) "who is being hurt", the answers can be suprising and unnerveing.
edit: clarity
> Smugglers want to get drugs to the lucrative American market. > Border Patrol are told to stop them cause drugs are bad. >Politicians enact more border patrol regulations to counteract our strict drug policy.
I'm inferring that OP wants border patrol to be political activists and fight for better drug laws instead of just "doing their jobs".
- Thomas Paine