The War on Drugs Is a Failure

[babylonsister]

The War on Drugs Is a Failure
We should focus instead on reducing harm to users and on tackling organized crime.

By FERNANDO HENRIQUE CARDOSO, CéSAR GAVIRIA and ERNESTO ZEDILLO


The war on drugs has failed. And it's high time to replace an ineffective strategy with more humane and efficient drug policies. This is the central message of the report by the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy we presented to the public recently in Rio de Janeiro.


A soldier stands next to packages containing marijuana at an army base in Cali, Colombia, August 2008.

Prohibitionist policies based on eradication, interdiction and criminalization of consumption simply haven't worked. Violence and the organized crime associated with the narcotics trade remain critical problems in our countries. Latin America remains the world's largest exporter of cocaine and cannabis, and is fast becoming a major supplier of opium and heroin. Today, we are further than ever from the goal of eradicating drugs.

Over the last 30 years, Colombia implemented all conceivable measures to fight the drug trade in a massive effort where the benefits were not proportional to the resources invested. Despite the country's achievements in lowering levels of violence and crime, the areas of illegal cultivation are again expanding. In Mexico -- another epicenter of drug trafficking -- narcotics-related violence has claimed more than 5,000 lives in the past year alone.

The revision of U.S.-inspired drug policies is urgent in light of the rising levels of violence and corruption associated with narcotics. The alarming power of the drug cartels is leading to a criminalization of politics and a politicization of crime. And the corruption of the judicial and political system is undermining the foundations of democracy in several Latin American countries.

The first step in the search for alternative solutions is to acknowledge the disastrous consequences of current policies. Next, we must shatter the taboos that inhibit public debate about drugs in our societies. Antinarcotic policies are firmly rooted in prejudices and fears that sometimes bear little relation to reality. The association of drugs with crime segregates addicts in closed circles where they become even more exposed to organized crime.

more...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123535114271444981.html

[Deep13]

1. Yup.

Has been for decades.

[Enthusiast]

2. These ideas have great merit.

But The Obama Administration can do nothing. Due to political considerations Obama can't say a single word about the failure of the war on drugs. It is insane to continue the war on drugs but this is just another insane policy we must continue due to the way the media would characterize it.

[mopinko]

7. i'm not sure i agree with you. not that i can predict what they are going to do

but i think that he did not discuss this during the campaign for political reasons. i do think, however, that he is acutely aware of what a waste it it. and i think he has something behind him that other people do not have- he is from chicago. he can easily point to the history of the equally failed prohibition of alcohol, as well as the current impact that this nonsense is having, especially in urban areas.

i think that he would like to do this. before he was a candidate for president, he very carefully expressed some sympathy with those who wanted to see an end to this nonsense. i know he knows what the right thing to do it. and i know that he has promised to find spending cuts to pay for new programs. there is not a bigger pot of stupidly spent money outside the pentagon. he may surprise us on this.
and remember that it was the financial pressures of the last great republican depression that brought about an end to the prohibition of alcohol.

[ms liberty]

K&R...nice to see someone making sense on this subject...n/t

[ms liberty]

3. delete...accidental dupe. n/t

[Uncle Joe]

4. Kicked and recommended for a sane policy.

Thanks for the thread, babylonsister.:thumbsup:

[Viva_La_Revolution]

5. How dare they be rational about this issue!

:sarcasm:

[Dennis Donovan]

6. Recommended - it's pissing away resources that could be used for...

...addiction treatment and education.

[Politicalboi]

8. War on drugs is a total waste of money

Hopefully this will pass today in California.

http://www.jabberwonk.com/flinker.cfm?cliid=18img1

[Dortiz]

9. The situation in Mexico is particularly alarming

I see reports of near civil war and police not being able to control the massacre.