That is my understanding of what happened after the repeal of alcohol prohibition in the USA. The original prohibition created a significant amount of criminal

That is my understanding of what happened after the repeal of alcohol prohibition in the USA. The original prohibition created a significant amount of criminal infrastructure and faced with alcohol no longer being insanely profitable they switched to a variety of other enterprises, like hard drugs, prostitution, etc. I recall one article put most of the blame for the rise of organized crime in the US on Prohibition and that it wasn't really the dedicated work of the FBI that stamped out the mafia in the US, it was the aging and eventual death of the entire generation that had risen to wealth and power during those times. It looks live we've really set ourselves up for long-term pain with the drug war, even with total de-criminilization like Portugal has done, it will probably be at least another generation before the worst effects of the criminal organizations fade away. By which time enough people will have forgotten the price of the drug war and be gung ho to start some new socially-destructive campaign.