Cannot imagine how anyone arguing for sanctions imagined that there would be any other result. 'Permitted breaches' of any prohibition—like medically necessary marijuana today, or alcohol back in the twenties—just make it easier for the criminals to exploit the system. It's what criminals always do. And corrupting the cops has always been a favourite tool.
Don't enact sanctions unless you're prepared to enforce them every bit as vigourously as the crooks are going to work to supply that desperate market you just created. But there was a failure of will when the children of Iraq were shown starving on TV. What, someone thought Saddam would be the first to starve instead of last?