As Colombian president Alvaro Uribe basks in praise from the US government for reducing his country’s coca production by 52% from 2003-2004, others signal that total supply has not decreased, but that production has simply been diverted to other South American nations. Alvaro Vargas Llosa casts doubt on the U.S. administration’s glowing reports, noting that the decline in Colombian production has coincided with the growth of that in Bolivia and Peru. Others, such as Peter Schwartz of the Global Business Network, predict that the rising use of methamphetamines will divert U.S. attention from the jungles of South America to the homemade meth labs of the home country. Further still, odd bedfellows The Economist and musician Juanes argue that these drugs should be legalized, so as to reduce prices and thus the incentive to produce. Tell us what you think.
Monday, September 26, 2005
Debate: The war on drugs
As Colombian president Alvaro Uribe basks in praise from the US government for reducing his country’s coca production by 52% from 2003-2004, others signal that total supply has not decreased, but that production has simply been diverted to other South American nations. Alvaro Vargas Llosa casts doubt on the U.S. administration’s glowing reports, noting that the decline in Colombian production has coincided with the growth of that in Bolivia and Peru. Others, such as Peter Schwartz of the Global Business Network, predict that the rising use of methamphetamines will divert U.S. attention from the jungles of South America to the homemade meth labs of the home country. Further still, odd bedfellows The Economist and musician Juanes argue that these drugs should be legalized, so as to reduce prices and thus the incentive to produce. Tell us what you think.
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It's insane to think that the US should legalize certain drugs, such as methamphetamines, simply to reduce costs. First of all, these drugs are dangerous and addictive and many people would die from its legalization. Second of all, if anything costs would go up...health care costs that is. Hospitals would have to spend more money treating people in the emergency room that are strung out on speed and also burn clinics would be inundated with users being burned from exploding meth labs. This would put pressure on the government to increase health care costs and make the US an international laughing stock on providing health care to its citizens...not that we're not close to that yet.
Yea, doc, I definitely agree that certain drugs should never be considered for legalization. However, we really do need to examine the way we carry out our 'war on drugs'. Right now we concentrate on the supply side, trying to prevent people in other countries from growing coca, for example. These people did not select this particular crop to piss us off, it is simply the most lucrative. We should curb drug use at home through substituting rehabs programs instead of prison for small things like carrying bits of weed, and helping addicts.
In response to Dr. Hanna, I believe musician Juanes' stand is related to US (and other consumer countries) legalization of cocaine and other drugs that originate outside of those consumer countries. Drugs, such as methamphetamine, produced inside consumer countries may need to be treated differently.
Juanes' comments are based on the fact that his home country, Colombia, suffers from an internal war in which guerrilla and paramilitary groups have been lucratively financing themselves through the illegal drug trade, mainly in cocaine, for over 20 years.
With increased incomes allowing greater arms purchasing power, higher rates of recruitment (directly forced or ‘voluntary’, out of financial need), and greater power of persuasion/threat, the involvement of these groups in cocaine has permitted an absolute explosion of massacres, kidnappings, generalized violence, and the creation of numerous new violent groups, among many other characteristics of this armed conflict. These all have the effects of serious psychological disorders, broken families, and a country full of scared individuals who become internally displaced and flood as refugees to countries such as the USA.
From this perspective, legalization can certainly be seen as an option whereby, greatly reducing the possibility of major profits through the drug trade, armed actors that benefit from narcotics trafficking in Colombia and other countries would be confronted by a considerable drop in income, likely reducing their capacity to purchase weapons and entice recruits, at least for some time.
It is possible that these groups increase the rate of kidnappings, oil pipeline explosions and extortion in order to continue financing their movements. For this reason and others, including the spiral of violence, impunity and corruption that have permeated all levels of society, legalization of drugs in consumer countries could never be the only answer to the Colombian armed conflict. However, it is unlikely that the expansion of other income strategies brings in the same amount of wealth that has the illegal drug trade.
With diminished resources, illegal armed groups will either find themselves forced to cede many of their demands in negotiations with the government, or become weakened militarily to such an extent that the national armed forces are able to dominate them. This is also the goal of the US and Colombian governments in the “War on Drugs”. However, the ‘source’ strategy these forces have been using for 20 years has absolutely failed, with the price of cocaine on the streets of consumer countries not having dropped at all, and the quality of the drug having increased to near 100% purity.
It is clear that another strategy needs to be undertaken. Legalization of drugs is one part of one option. As Taylor Kirk says, above, the USA and other consumer countries all need to look at their consumption as a main part of the problem. As long as there is demand, there will always be supply.
Totally agree with what de vargas said. I would like to add that, after Israel, Colombia is the second recipient of U.S foreign aid with over $600 million dollars received each year. I am sure that with much less money some good and serious investments could be made in educational and prevention programs with success. After all, the inadequately called “war on drugs” (which is certainly not a war within the U.S) should be a domestic issue, not a national-security one that requires “intervention” in another country, such as the case in Colombia. I don’t see the U.S. military carrying out operations in Europe in search of any ecstasies cartel.
The US is definitely lacking in taking measure on the demand side. The Netherlands has a great program whereby addicts are supplied with substitute drugs and weaned off the hard substances. Here we simply throw people in jail, only for them to serve time with the addiction and be released looking for a hit. This causes a few problems here: 1) We overcrowd our prisons with petty drug offenders, 2) People are not getting help when they are completely and utterly physically addicted to a drug, and 3) It gives the government the ability to search for a solution elsewhere, in this case the farmers of South America just looking to make a living.
For sure, marijuana should be legal (and it is marijuana, not cocaine, that is the current focus of the war in northern Mexico between the Sinaloa cartel and the zetas).
I'm not so sure about cocaine. You make some good points about the economics of the situation, and to be honest I suspect that if cocaine were legal it would not be as cost effective to distill it into concentrated form (which makes it easier to smuggle). Besides which, the amount of chemicals and insecticides sprayed on it right now can't be controlled (after all, if you incinerate every ounce you find, you don't have a way to regulate either the quality or the potency of the product).
On the other hand, it is possible to OD on cocaine (unlike marijuana) and any drug that can kill people simply by taking a little too much, I am a bit leery of. So, I am not sure about whether and in what context cocaine should be regulated.
One of the biggest reasons they are not legal now is frankly that the prison guards and the lawyers both have strong lobbies, and they spend a great deal of money opposing marijuana legalization.
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