International Drug Interdiction Still Not Working
by TChris
The government spent more than a billion dollars last year in its international effort to stop drugs from entering the country, money that could have been used to help rebuild New Orleans or to fund medical research. Was it money well spent?
[P]erhaps the most important measure of the programs' efficacy was issued just a few weeks ago, when the White House drug-policy office reported that "cocaine is widely available throughout most of the nation." The office offered similar assessments for heroin and marijuana.
Drug warriors argue that the drug problem in this country would be even worse without international drug interdiction efforts. The argument is unconvincing.
The antidrug campaigns have run for more than 25 years, but, officials acknowledged, traffickers have almost always been able to meet American market demands.
After a quarter century of failure, isn't it time to consider a different approach?
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