Sure, the War on Drugs is one factor. And the fact that policymakers aren't interested in addressing it simply reflects that this is a democracy. The War on Drugs still enjoys overwhelming support from the electorate, and candidates who argue for alternatives get percentages in the single digits.

But consider this:

A generation ago, a five year prison sentence was seen as a pretty hefty penalty for any crime short of first degree murder. Indeed, the rest of the world outside the USA still sees it that way.

We have now shifted so far into harsher/longer punishment mode that mainstream Americans now see five years as a mere slap on the wrist. Nowadays, signs in construction zones, here in Michigan, promise FIFTEEN YEARS of imprisonment for an accident that injures a construction worker.

This cultural shift is huge and probably irreversible in our lifetimes. Even now, I hear people complaining about this or that offender not getting enough years in prison. And the abandonment of mental health services means that incarceration is getting to be the way we choose to house and feed the mentally ill. If the War on Drugs ended tomorrow morning, our jails and prisons would still be stuffed.