The war on drugs has failed

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It’s sign of just how disastrous the global war on drugs has become that sitting politicians, including Canada’s prime minister, are starting to acknowledge its failure.

At a news conference wrapping up the Summit of the Americas on the weekend, Stephen Harper said, “I think what everyone believes and agrees with, and to be frank myself, is that the current approach is not working, but it is not clear what we should do.”

This tentative recognition of an obvious fact might not seem like much, but this is big news coming from a cheerleader for criminalization and enforcement. The “approach” to drugs in Central and South America stems from the same philosophy the Conservatives have defended for years. There is a direct connection between prohibition in places in Canada and the activities of drug cartels in places like Mexico. We create the demand; they furnish the supply.

Felipe Calderòn became president of Mexico in 2006 and declared a war on drug-related organized crime in his country. The result was a sharp increase in the homicide rate. In some areas, citizens are caught between unspeakably evil drug gangs on one side, and abusive or corrupt soldiers and police on the other. A recent Human Rights Watch report “found evidence of a significant increase in human rights violations since Calderòn launched his ‘war on organized crime’.” Those abuses include torture, extra-judicial killings and disappearances.

For a few years now, respected leaders in Central and South America have been saying “enough.” The Global Commission on Drug Policy, a group of eminent people that includes many former heads of state, has called for “fundamental reforms” of drug policies.

That Commission published a statement this month called “Drugs: The debate goes mainstream,” signed by Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Ernesto Zedillo and César Gaviria — former presidents of Brazil, Mexico and Colombia respectively.

“Latin America is talking about drugs like never before,” they write. “The taboo that has long prevented open debate about drug policies has been broken — thanks to a steadily deteriorating situation on the ground and the courageous stand taken by presidents Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia, Otto Perez Molina of Guatemala and Laura Chinchilla of Costa Rica.”

The former presidents don’t mince words, blaming prohibition for decades of violence and public health disasters. They say what’s needed is a shift in how every country in the Americas thinks about the public health problem that is drug addiction. “The criminalization of drug use is the primary obstacle to treatment and rehabilitation.”

We’ve seen proof of that in Ottawa, lately, as politicians line up to oppose a safe-injection site, despite evidence that suggests such sites can help addicts access treatment. Similar programs for alcohol don’t meet with the same knee-jerk opposition, because alcohol is legal. A combination of regulation and access to treatment has helped smokers get off tobacco.

Harper has long wanted Canada to exert more influence in the Americas, and it’s an important region for Canada’s mining sector. But on the most important security question in the region, Canada is still several steps behind.



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