I live in Rotterdam which has the distinction of being Europe's largest port and also Europe's largest cocaine port of entry. It's obvious to anyone living here

I live in Rotterdam which has the distinction of being Europe's largest port and also Europe's largest cocaine port of entry. It's obvious to anyone living here there's lots of money laundering going on and ocassionally they'll make an effort to try and stop it. Money laundering is the opposite of tax evasion. It's people trying to pay taxes on profit that they otherwise would not be able to pay taxes on, because these profits are made through illegal means. Money laundering is proof that criminals are willing to pay taxes on their income, so why not let them? If the Dutch government were to magically stop all money laundering in The Netherlands they would receive less tax income, and would therefore either have to raise my taxes or lower the government's budget. My taxes are kept lower because of money laundering, yet I'm regularly told that money laundering is bad. It's like you say, once you look at drug policy from a systematic viewpoint it doesn't make any sense. If you take any perspective other than jingoistic moralism drug policy makes absolutely no sense.