Your biggest problem is that you think we control the police. The truth is that, had it not been for intense government propaganda, the average citizen wouldn't give two shits about drug users. Here is the cycle: Government makes propaganda demonizing a subset of the population -> society is conditioned by this propaganda, it is taught in the government schools it is distributed by the mainstream media (and indeed the church is a key player in this conspiracy) -> government creates laws to address the hysteria they have created -> society accepts these laws because of their conditioning -> police enforce the laws you see it this way: Society determines that something is bad -> Society has government make laws against it -> Police enforce these laws In your model, changing the mind of society leads to government removing laws and this to police not enforcing them.In reality the mind of society was set by the government in the first place. It is in the U.S. governments best interests for drugs to remain illegal, they will never decriminalize them. Police are a part of the government. In the end we can simplify this to: Government determines and enforces what is right and wrong , society is largely passive. And guess what when the government says it is required for the police to rape children I will not laugh and be friends with the child rapists after society gets things to change. They still need to be punished. They do not get such an easy out as saying 'government said to do this!!'.