Pubdate: Sun, 12 Jun 2011
Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (PA)
Copyright: 2011 PG Publishing Co., Inc.
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/pm4R4dI4
Website: http://www.post-gazette.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/341
Author: Robert Sharpe, Policy Analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy

Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v11/n360/a01.html

IT'S A FAILURE

As Tony Norman's June 3 column ("Easy Up in Drug War? Smart But
Unlikely") mentioned, the White House Office of National Drug Control
Policy immediately rejected the Global Commission on Drug Policy's
call for reform and defended the "balanced drug control efforts" of
the U.S. government. These "balanced" efforts have given the land of
the free the highest incarceration rate in the world.
Prohibition-related violence has caused upward of 35,000 deaths in
Mexico over the past four years. Despite criminal penalties, the
United States has higher rates of drug use than European countries
like Portugal that have decriminalized. This country can no longer
afford to throw good money after bad drug policy.

ROBERT SHARPE

Policy Analyst Common Sense for Drug Policy

Washington, D.C. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.