U.S. law enforcement agencies have arrested at least 1.4 million people for drug violations annually
Good article.
President Santos on the Drug War: "The Cure Has Been Worse Than the Disease"
BY President Juan Manuel Santos
The outgoing president of Colombia takes a frank look at the failed "War on Drugs" and maps a way forward.
http://www.americasquarterly.org/content/new-way-forward-drug-policy
This article is adapted from AQ's latest issue on reducing homicide in Latin America.
More than a century ago, in 1912, representatives from countries around the world signed the International Opium Convention, aiming to curb the abuse of opium, cocaine and other illicit substances. Fifty years later, in 1961, the United Nations adopted the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, establishing a global framework for the control and prohibition of psychoactive substances. In 1971, President Richard Nixon declared a War on Drugs.
After more than 106 years of head-on battle, we must now assess, with brutal honesty, where we stand. The conclusion will not be positive. Drugs continue to be one of the main challenges facing societies throughout the world. An effective policy tonight illicit drugs should have led to a reduction in trafficking and use. Yet data from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) World Drug Report show that between 2006 and 2015, worldwide consumption by adults remained stable.
High levels of consumption, of course, have an effect on public health. In 2015, we lost 28 million years of healthy life to disabilities and premature deaths caused by the abuse of illicit substances, according to UNODC estimates.
But we are not only losing the war on the public health front. U.S. law enforcement agencies have arrested at least 1.4 million people for drug violations annually since 1997. But despite these high numbers, the availability of drugs on the streets has not diminished. Criminal organizations wreak violence and terror and represent a threat to individual security, national security and even global security. Also, drug-trafficking mafias consistently seek to corrupt state institutions and democracy......................................