The War On (Some American Citizens With Non-Phamaceutical, Non-Alcoholic, Tobacco-Free) Drugs isn’t just an abject failure here in America. Other countries are bribed and coerced into following our lead by making war on their own citizens.
Fortunately, the people of other countries seem to be quicker to catch on to the hidden toll of drug war: from the Observer:
A secret Downing Street report on crack and heroin, suppressed by ministers, has discovered that the government’s war on drugs has failed.
Researchers found that stamping down on hard drugs through the police and courts had little effect on production and found no evidence that attacking drug supply had any impact on the harm caused by heroin and crack users. The full report provides a powerful argument for legalising drugs so they are not controlled by criminals.
Even if the war on supply succeeds, the report found, it would simply lead to a rise in the price of crack and heroin, in turn producing more crime by addicts needing to feed their habit and increased profits for the drug barons. The cost of crime associated with heroin and crack users was estimated at £16 billion by researchers, but the report found that the global crusade on drugs had coincided with a rise in consumption.
The suppressed pages, seen by The Observer, show that Downing Street experts found that the international drug war, led by the US, simply displaced production from one country to another. On page 61, for example, the researchers conclude that ‘effective efforts at eradication of coca growing in Colombia [are] thought to have displaced crops to Peru and Bolivia’.
