A merica faces a pandemic of drug abuse that inflicts staggering costs on the nation. The United States constitutes just one segment of the global illicit drug market, yet according to the UNDCP, its population consumes a disproportionately large percentage of the world's estimated eight-thousand-ton opium crop.

The profile of America's opium problem takes many shapes.

On the one hand, the profile includes those addicted to the drug and those who supply the addicts by smuggling, distributing, and selling the contraband. To the people involved in activities that violate the law, the costs can be devastating. Many spend much of their lives in jail, while addicts who manage to avoid arrest and sentencing pay a moral cost by neglecting themselves, their families, and their jobs in a never-ending quest to purchase their...