War On Drugs

Ciudad Juarez, which shares a border with El Paso, in Texas, is the most violent city on earth. But you will not see smoking buildings or blown-up cars. What you notice is the deathly indifference in people’s eyes.

Since President Felipe Calderón launched his offensive against the drug cartels in late 2006, more than 50,000 people have been murdered in Mexico. Juarez, located in the northern state of Chihuahua, has hurt most in the drug wars, with 10,000 executions in the last four years.

Calderón’s crackdown has failed. In Juarez, where he ordered in the army and the federales to take over from corrupt police, all that has happened is they have brought one cartel, La Linea, to its knees, while permitting another, Sinaloa, to take its place.

Continue reading "The brave chronicler of Mexico’s deadly drug war" »

Supporters of the ‘War on Drugs’ love to quote former drug users who have now become avid supporters of drug prohibition. But it is just as easy to find former drug users who have now become unambiguous critics of the ‘War on Drugs’.

One of these is now the President of the USA. President Obama said in the US Senate that the ‘War on Drugs is an utter failure’.  Opinion on drug policy is clearly changing around the world.

On May 14, the new US Drug Czar, Gil Kerlikowske, called for an end to the ‘War on Drugs’ in an interview in the Wall Street Journal. The limited benefits, high costs and serious unintended consequences of the ‘War on Drugs’ are now being increasingly recognised.

Continue reading "Fighting the wrong battle in the War on Drugs" »