It all depends on your definitions of wasteful I suppose.
200k to conduct male sex worker studies in Peru does seem wasteful, but the money is likely going into at least someone's pocket. Maybe it will prevent HIV and save tons of money in the long run.
I always thought the prohibition of marijuana was wasteful in that pot smokers had to sit in prison at the tax payers expense. But then you talk to the cops, judges, defense lawyers, probation officers etc. and they'll tell you their economy is good because of the current laws. This is a multi-million dollar/ year industry we are talking about here, not some few hundred K's kicked over here and there for a one time shot to try something new.
If you want to talk about wasteful- not having mandatory laws in place to make sure we are recycling has cost us more than we'll ever realize
I guess I would start there or some other areas that are long over due for change, and let the little stuff wait in line for another generation to fix.