<P> In mid-1995, the US government tried to reduce the supply of methamphetamine precursors to disrupt the market of this drug . According to a 2009 study, this effort was successful, but its effects were largely temporary . </P> <P> During alcohol prohibition, the period from 1920 to 1933, alcohol use initially fell but began to increase as early as 1922 . It has been extrapolated that even if prohibition had not been repealed in 1933, alcohol consumption would have quickly surpassed pre-prohibition levels . One argument against the War on Drugs is that it uses similar measures as Prohibition and is no more effective . </P> <P> In the six years from 2000 to 2006, the U.S. spent $4.7 billion on Plan Colombia, an effort to eradicate coca production in Colombia . The main result of this effort was to shift coca production into more remote areas and force other forms of adaptation . The overall acreage cultivated for coca in Colombia at the end of the six years was found to be the same, after the U.S. Drug Czar's office announced a change in measuring methodology in 2005 and included new areas in its surveys . Cultivation in the neighboring countries of Peru and Bolivia increased, some would describe this effect like squeezing a balloon . </P> <P> Richard Davenport - Hines, in his book The Pursuit of Oblivion, criticized the efficacy of the War on Drugs by pointing out that </P>

What is the definition of the war on drugs