The Importance of History

There are two schools of thought on learning: one that you should learn from your own mistakes, and the second that you should learn from the mistakes of those who went before you, and not repeat them. History provides us with huge insight to the mistakes of others, so why do we choose to ignore it? Surely I'm not the only one to see that the 'War on Drugs' is simply a rerun of Prohibition with all the same symptoms and outcomes? You will never stop people using recreational drugs just as they never managed to stop people drinking alcohol. The best way to deal with recreational drug use is to legalise drugs, quality assure them, and tax them. Take them out of the hands of criminals, it can only benefit all of us.