Pubdate: Fri, 28 Feb 2014 Source: USA Today (US) Copyright: 2014 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/625HdBMl Website: http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/index.htm Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/466 Author: Hannah Hetzer Note: Hannah Hetzer is policy manager of the Americas at the Drug Policy Alliance. BUSTING 'EL CHAPO' ACCOMPLISHES NOTHING Another Crime Boss in Jail Won't Matter On Saturday, the world's most wanted drug lord, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera, was captured in the Mexican city of Mazatlan, ending a 13-year search that began when he escaped from prison in a laundry basket. But how much will this arrest really accomplish? If history is any guide, not much. The capture of one leader from one cartel will not decrease drug use in the United States, the world's biggest drug consuming nation. In 2011, the Department of Homeland Security issued a memo on drug trafficking that concluded, "There is no perceptible pattern" connecting arrests of drug bosses and decreases in drug seizures. Forty years of the war on drugs have not led to a decrease in drug consumption or supply on a global scale, yet it has led to the proliferation of cartels and crime. It is also a mistake to believe that the capture of Guzman will lead to a decrease in violence. Experience shows it might result in increased violence in the short term, as fighting occurs within the cartel to assume the top position and as other cartels move in on Sinaloa cartel territory. Nor will Guzman's arrest dismantle drug trafficking networks. The Sinaloa cartel is one of many, and it is unlikely to be dependent on Guzman for longevity. High profile captures like this go back many decades; think of Pablo Escobar or Guzman's own mentor, Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo. Such arrests never fundamentally alter the situation. As long as there is an illicit market for drugs, there will be cartels to supply it. Ultimately, we need to look for new ways to tackle organized crime, with moves such as legal regulation, being spearheaded by Uruguay in South America, and in the USA by Washington state and Colorado. In recent years, debate and political will for an overhaul in drug policy has gained momentum in the U.S., Latin America and elsewhere. In 2011, Kofi Annan, Paul Volcker and Richard Branson joined former presidents Fernando Henrique Cardoso of Brazil, Cesar Gaviria of Colombia and Ernesto Zedillo of Mexico and other members of the Global Commission on Drug Policy in saying the time had come to "break the taboo"on exploring alternatives to the war on drugs and to "encourage experimentation by governments with models of legal regulation of drugs." More recently, Presidents Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia and Otto Perez Molina of Guatemala have joined calls for reform. Eighty years after the end of Prohibition, we no longer have kingpins like Al Capone running the booze market. As we did with alcohol, we need to learn from the failures of modern-day prohibition and try new approaches that depart from the repressive, militarized and punitive methods of the past. Though fighting organized crime is important, without reducing the illicit market for drugs, it will not improve the safety of Mexicans or Americans. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom