Britain has taken to preemptively banning suspicious substances like Benzo Fury and NBOMe before they've been proven to be harmful (or safe), at least temporarily while they can be tested. In the U.S. they can go unregulated until people start falling over or eating one another.

Is it the militant prohibition of traditional drugs that drives addicts and abuse-prone people into the market for "not for human consumption" chemicals? Sure. It's also a root of violence and warfare. Still to condemn the drug war as a battle that cannot be won is not a new or useful insight -- though valid when defining victory in terms of bad guys arrested or substances confiscated. Beneficial metrics of progress are those that reinforce maximizing well-being and minimizing loss in a world of which drugs will always be a part.