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Quaint, almost charming when a powerful political leader slips up and speaks the truth, isn't it?
Sec. Thompson might want to cc these guys on the memo. I don't think they got it.
"There are not enough jails, not enough policemen, not enough courts to enforce a law not supported by the people." -- Hubert H. Humphrey
Though I think he underestates the potential for truly oppressive regimes to enforce their will through fear, in a liberal democracy he's pretty much right.
The question, though, shouldn't be whether prohibition works to completely eradicate a phenomenon (product, practice, etc), but whether the costs of enforcing the necessarily partial prohibition are worth the benefits, or whether there are options other than prohibition that would produce greater benefits.