Pubdate: Sat, 19 Sep 2009
Source: International Herald-Tribune (International)
Copyright: International Herald Tribune 2009
Contact:  http://global.nytimes.com/?iht
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/212
Author: Misha Glenny
Note: Misha Glenny is the author of "McMafia: A Journey through the 
Global Criminal Underworld."
Cited: Law Enforcement Against Prohibition http://www.leap.cc/

ENDING THE 'WAR ON DRUGS'

Vancouver in British Columbia, Ciudad Juarez in northern Mexico and 
Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan are unlikely cousins. But 
together these three places and their ilk have wrought a remarkable 
change in one of the world's most important debates over the past two years.

For decades, the idea of legalizing narcotics was supported by only a 
small minority. But as global markets in illicit drugs have expanded 
exponentially since the early 1990s, policy makers and law 
enforcement agencies alike have been overwhelmed by the challenge 
posed by the prohibition of a long list of drugs. Markets have spread 
to places that for decades had no significant drug problem, like 
China and Indonesia, while the numbers of addicts in countries like 
Iran have grown hugely.

Two significant developments are contributing to the sudden surge in 
calls for reconsidering prohibition. The first is that drugs are now 
damaging long-term Western security interests, especially in 
Afghanistan and Mexico. The second is that production is migrating 
away from its traditional homes like Colombia and the Golden Triangle 
and moving into the heart of Western consumer areas like Canada, the 
Netherlands and Britain.

The problem is becoming so dramatic that elder statesmen, senior law 
enforcement officers, intellectuals and philanthropists the world 
over are speaking out loud and clear: The "War on Drugs" is a 
disastrous policy that achieves none of its aims and inflicts huge 
damage on global security and governance wherever it is prosecuted.

They argue that state regulation of the drug market would reduce the 
health and social risks posed by narcotics and generate huge tax 
revenues, which could be hypothecated to absorb any costs. At the 
moment, the vast profits from the illegal drug trade go into the 
pockets of organized crime syndicates and terrorist groups.

The most urgent appeals for a rethink have emanated from South 
America, where respected figures like the former president of Brazil, 
Fernando Henrique Cardoso, have highlighted how the war on drugs has 
done nothing to stop the trade in illegal narcotics but has resulted 
in tens of thousands of deaths and the perpetuation of ruthless gang 
cultures in the most deprived areas of the continent.

Diego Gambetta, an Oxford University criminologist and one of the 
world's greatest authorities on the Sicilian Mafia, has spoken out 
forcefully for an end to the war on drugs. In the United States, the 
most effective group demanding change is Law Enforcement Against 
Prohibition, or LEAP, which is made up of current and former police 
officers, including erstwhile operatives of the Drug Enforcement Agency.

Commentators in Europe and America have highlighted how prohibition 
is responsible for the thousands killed in Mexico's cocaine wars. The 
United States is being drawn into the violence as Mexican cartels 
purchase most of their weapons in Texas and other states.

Most critically, the Taliban in Afghanistan is waging an effective 
battle against NATO forces because opium's inflated value, caused by 
prohibition, enables the insurgents to purchase hundreds of millions 
of dollars of weaponry every year. Worse, the Kabul government that 
NATO is propping up is itself riddled with corruption fueled by the 
lucrative narcotics trade.

Moreover, is the world going to do nothing as Colombian and 
Venezuelan cartels use their immense financial muscle to corrupt and 
destroy fragile West African states like Sierra Leone and Liberia by 
turning them into a springboard for cocaine exports to Europe? The 
cartels already have swept aside stable governance in Guinea Bissau.

There has been no concerted attempt by the Obama administration or 
other Western governments to counter the growing sentiment in favor 
of drug law reform, although the president himself is on record as 
opposing legalization.

I have spoken to countless politicians who agree in private that, as 
one of them put it, "in 100 years we may look back and ask what on 
earth were we doing by prohibiting narcotics?" But they remain 
hesitant to articulate this in public for fear of the opprobrium it will bring.

Supporters of legalization have all but won the moral and 
intellectual debate, but they now face the most difficult argument of 
all -- the political one. That is unlikely to be won in Washington, 
where prohibition continues to enjoy powerful support. But we are 
seeing an erosion of the drug-war consensus in countries like 
Argentina, Mexico, Portugal and Switzerland -- where drugs either 
have been decriminalized or de facto legalized.

Canada faces special pressure -- not only is it one of the world's 
major producers of cannabis, but it also has been identified by the 
U.N.'s Office on Drugs and Crime as one of the manufacturing centers 
of synthetic drugs such as ecstasy and methamphetamines, supplying 
users in the United States and as far away as Australia.

Vancouver has become a global hub, exporting marijuana and 
methamphetamines while importing cocaine destined for the United 
States and the local market. Drug-related killings have proliferated 
during the past 18 months, provoking a sense of crisis. The campaign 
for marijuana legalization continues to grow there, garnering support 
from politicians around the country.

After 80 years of war on drugs, consumers have easier access to a 
greater variety of these products than ever. Prices continue to drop 
while the profits of narco-traffickers go up. But -- given the 
developments in South America, Europe and Canada -- we are perhaps 
for the first time seeing the emergence of a coalition determined to 
challenge a policy that generates unimaginable misery year in and year out.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake