40 Year War

In 1971, America declared “the war on drugs.” Are we winning? Who exactly are we fighting? How do we measure success? How much have we spent on this “war?” Over the last 40 years, we were run out of Viet Nam, invaded Grenada and Panama, undertook Desert Storm in Kuwait and Iraq, bombed Serbia, initiated a war to rid Afghanistan of the Taliban, invaded Iraq (again), and recently participated in the bombing of Libya, along with a variety of “police actions” worldwide almost too numerous to count. But one constant has been the prolonged “war on drugs.” And what do we have to show for it? An emerging narco-state in Mexico, with drugs flowing north and guns flowing south across the border. Defending a government in Afghanistan that supplies 90% of the world’s opium. 2.3 million Americans incarcerated in jails and prisons, up from fewer than 500,000 when the drug “war” was declared. In California, 11% of the state budget funds prisons, while 7.5% goes to higher education. So, is it time to declare victory? Or should we listen to bleeding hearts like Jimmy Carter (and the Global Commission on Drug Policy) and consider alternatives for dealing with the illicit drug trade. Like decriminalizing possession of less than an ounce of marijuana. And substituting treatment for imprisonment of non-violent people who use drugs. And concentrating coordinated international efforts on combatting violent criminal organizations which trade drugs across national borders. Sounds like a lot of liberal, defeatist wishful thinking to me. It’s better to stay the course; just keep trying harder to make a failed approach succeed. Now that makes perfect sense!