Price of prohibition: drug policy and Latin America.

• Author: Sullum, Jacob
• Position: Citings - Brief article

AMERICAN OFFICIALS cite the appalling levels of violence in Mexico, caused by an escalation of the war on drugs, as an argument for escalating the war on drugs. "If the drug effort were fairing," an unnamed "senior U.S. official" told The Wall Street Journal in February, "there would be no violence." That same month, three former Latin American presidents suggested a different direction. The Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy, convened by Fernando Henrique Cardoso of Brazil, Cesar Gaviria of Colombia, and Ernesto Zedillo of Mexico, issued a statement declaring the current approach to drug policy a failure and calling for a "paradigm shift."

"Prohibitionist policies based on the eradication of production and on the disruption of drug flows as well as on the criminalization of consumption have not yielded the expected results," the ex-presidents say. "We are farther than ever from the announced goal of eradicating drugs." Meanwhile, they note, the war on drugs has been accompanied by "a rise in organized crime," "a growth in...