Ask any well-informed policy wonk in the U.S. what they think about drug policy, and they're likely to tell you what is quickly becoming mainstream opinion: that our nation's approach to drug policy has failed. Surely, there are many examples that prove that the U.S. policy of prohibition has done more harm than good—punitive policies to address addiction and substance abuse, which are really public health issues; incarceration of nonviolent offenders on a massive scale (especially young Black and Brown men); the perverse incentives toward abuse of power through civil asset forfeiture; destruction of families through child custody battles and parents behind bars; the permanent stain of a drug felony that plagues former offenders reentering the community and obstructs their access to employment, housing, food stamps, and their ability to participate in the democratic process; disproportionately punitive mandatory minimum sentences that bankrupt the public and dismantle the lives of users and small-time crooks, benefiting only the private prison industry. All of these interpretations take at face value the federal government's claims that the Drug War is meant to get rid of drugs and address the problems they bring.