Risk mismanagement of a drug crazed government

From a risk assessment viewpoint, the "war on drugs" is a complete farce. The resources of a society should be prioritized according to their impact on harm reduction. There has never been a death caused by the use of marihuana. Eating fried foods has killed far more people than the use of recreational drugs. 

In a free society everyone makes their own choices and deals with the consequences. But despite overwhelming public opposition, the pharmaceutical and beverage lobbies will fight tooth and nail to maintain their monopolies.

The truth: The government uses the war on drugs as a vehicle to oppress minorities, justify an imperial foreign-policy, support the military-industrial/ private prison industries, and criminalize the population in general. 

(Annual Causes of Death, By Cause)

Cause of death (Data from 2013 unless otherwise noted)	Number
All Causes	2,596,993
Major Cardiovascular Diseases [MCD]	796,494
Cerebrovascular Diseases [subset of MCD]	128,978
Essential Hypertension and Hypertensive Renal Disease [subset of MCD]	30,770
Malignant Neoplasms [Cancer]	584,881
Chronic Lower Respiratory Diseases	149,205
Accidents (Unintentional Injuries) [Total]	130,557
Motor Vehicle Accidents [subset of Total Accidents]	35,369
Alzheimer's Disease	84,767
Diabetes Mellitus	75,578
Influenza and Pneumonia	56,979
Nephritis, Nephrotic Syndrome and Nephrosis	47,112
Drug-Induced Deaths1	46,471
Intentional Self-Harm (Suicide)	41,149
Septicemia	38,156
Chronic Liver Disease and Cirrhosis	36,427
Alcoholic Liver Disease [subset of Chronic Liver Disease]	18,146
Injury by Firearms	33,636
Alcohol-Induced Deaths	29,001
Parkinson's Disease	25,196
Pneumonitis Due to Solids and Liquids	18,579
Homicide	16,121
Viral Hepatitis	8,157
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Disease	6,955
All Illicit Drugs Combined (2000)2	17,0002
Cannabis (Marijuana)3	0
2013 Data Detailing Drug-Induced Deaths, Breaking Out Specific Data for Prescription Analgesics and Heroin, as Reported by the CDC4
Drug Overdose Total	43,982
Prescription Analgesics Total	16,235
Heroin Overdose Total	6,235
2010 Drug Overdose Mortality Data In Detail, Reported By Paulozzi et al.5
Drug Overdose Total	38,329
Pharmaceutical Drugs	22,134
Pharmaceutical Opioid Analgesics	16,651

^{1 "Drug" includes both legal and illegal drugs.
2 Mokdad, Ali H., PhD, James S. Marks, MD, MPH, Donna F. Stroup, PhD, MSc, Julie L. Gerberding, MD, MPH, "Actual Causes of Death in the United States, 2000," Journal of the American Medical Association, (March 10, 2004), G225 Vol. 291, No. 10, 1242.
3 No recorded cases of overdose deaths from cannabis have been found in extensive literature reviews, see for example Gable, Robert S., "The Toxicity of Recreational Drugs," American Scientist (Research Triangle Park, NC: Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society, May-June 2006) Vol. 94, No. 3, p. 207.
4 The total deaths by drug poisoning as reported by Warner et al. in their data brief differs slightly from the number reported in the 2013 deaths data microfiles.
5 Paulozzi et al analyzed mortality figures and found that of 38,329 drug overdose deaths then reported in 2010, pharmaceutical drugs accounted for 22,134 deaths, of which 16,651 were opiod analgesic overdoses. The data were apparently revised slightly between the time the research letter was published in JAMA (February 2013) and release of the CDC's Deaths: Final Data for 2010 publication report, officially dated May 8, 2013.}

Source: 

"2013 Mortality Multiple Cause Micro-data Files," US Centers for Disease Control (Atlanta, GA), December 2014, Table 10, pp. 19-23.