The Korean War is ongoing, despite no shots fired in roughly 70 years. The destructive U.S. invasion left more than 3 million dead, many of whom were civilians, with major conflict ending in 1953 — but as the war was never officially declared "over," it technically isn't over.
In the same way, global drug policy — which is often framed in the same violent rhetoric as a full-scale occupation of the Korean peninsula — is like a war that ended long ago, but its belligerants refuse to acknowledge this fact. The drugs won because they could never lose. They can't surrender, but the campaign to eradicate them is unwinnable and thus absurd. War is hell, but as Boy George said, it's also stupid. The drug war is just as inept as many global conflicts in history.
