After 40 years, the United States' war on drugs has cost $1 trillion and hundreds of thousands of lives, and for what? Drug use is rampant and violence even more brutal and widespread.$1T plus interest over the years. Who'd like that money back now? On second thought, given the reward structure of our political system, it would have been spent on something else.
Even U.S. drug czar Gil Kerlikowske concedes the strategy hasn't worked.
Would have been nice if it had, but human nature dooms this to failure, especially in the affluent West.
"In the grand scheme, it has not been successful," Kerlikowske told The Associated Press. "Forty years later, the concern about drugs and drug problems is, if anything, magnified, intensified."
In proportion to profits.
This week President Obama promised to "reduce drug use and the great damage it causes" with a new national policy that he said treats drug use more as a public health issue and focuses on prevention and treatment.
Give it a shot. I don't think we could do much worse given the statistics we are seeing. If it fails, try another tack. I wonder how this approach would affect his proposed healthcare structure and budget. It might redirect law enforcement dollars to healthcare.
Nevertheless, his administration has increased spending on interdiction and law enforcement to record levels both in dollars and in percentage terms; this year, they account for $10 billion of his $15.5 billion drug-control budget.