If extreme penalties for illicit drug use were the part of the equation that worked, then why does Saudi Arabia's drug problem continue to get worse? They've had a marked increase in the abuse of amphetamines, cocaine, and opioids over the last two decades.

Maybe stop cherry picking the parts that you like and pretending like they're the parts that worked?

https://www.unodc.org/pdf/report_2000-09-21_1.pdf

https://www.unodc.org/pdf/trends2003_www_E.pdf

https://www.unodc.org/documents/wdr/WDR_2008/WDR_2008_eng_we...

https://www.unodc.org/res/wdr2022/MS/WDR22_Booklet_3.pdf