Good observation, Jingo. Maybe we should name a committee to study it?
Of course, any change would run into a third and perhaps most important law of bureaucracy - inertia. Bureaucracies hate change. In fact, when confronted with supposed change, their overriding goal is to shoehorn it into whatever they are already doing.
I related my conversation with the Asst. US Atty, because it really made an impression on me. She had just transferred from the crim side of her office to the civil, where I work (for another agency). And we were talking about legalization, and she agreed to much of the social benefits, but then said, “Do you really think those in power want those benefits? Aren’t a lot of people’s careers dependant on the status quo? Heck, drug prosecution is the primary function of the entire criminal half of this office.”
And if you think about all of the folk who benefit from the current situation…
Politicians get to look tough on crime, which sells.
Politicians get to use prison building as economic benefits for their constituencies.
We now have private interests supplying prisons, and often competing with them to house and transport prisoners. Private prisons are now being built on spec, anticipating essentially unlimited demand.
LEOs on all levels get to request ever-increasing funding for the fatally flawed war on drugs. They also get to supplement their budgets through confiscation.
Many attorneys, both public and private, perform no function outside of the prosecution and defense of drug-related matters.
Those are some pretty powerful allies, with specific interests in the status quo.