June marked the 40th anniversary of when Richard Nixon declared the “war on drugs.” In the four decades since, the drug war has shaped American policy, both foreign and domestic.

If we stick with the war analogy, it’s safe to say that it’s been a bigger failure than Vietnam, but unlike that war, no politician has been willing to cut and run when it comes to drugs. The U.S. has spent over $1-trillion prosecuting the war, but has failed to curb America’s insatiable lust for drugs. Quite the opposite: Illegal drug use has gone up by about 10% in the last 40 years.

According to a recent United Nations report, worldwide consumption of opiates increased 34.5% between 1998 and 2008, marijuana usage increased by 8.5% and cocaine by 27%. The United States imports a majority of it’s cocaine from Mexico, which has been embroiled in a brutal war among rival gangs for control of the lucrative trade.

There's positive news on the war on drugs coming from south of the border, where California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signalled his willingness to debate the issue of legalizing marijuana: