'War on drugs' has failed, says Latin American leaders to US

V

villian

Bluelighter
Joined
Aug 28, 2003
Messages
2,250
Location
aham brahmāsmi
A historic meeting of Latin America's leaders, to be attended by Barack Obama, will hear serving heads of state admit that the war on drugs has been a failure and that alternatives to prohibition must now be found.

The Summit of the Americas, to be held in Cartagena, Colombia is being seen by foreign policy experts as a watershed moment in the redrafting of global drugs policy in favour of a more nuanced and liberalised approach.

Otto Pérez Molina, the president of Guatemala, who as former head of his country's military intelligence service experienced the power of drug cartels at close hand, is pushing his fellow Latin American leaders to use the summit to endorse a new regional security plan that would see an end to prohibition. In the Observer, Pérez Molina writes: "The prohibition paradigm that inspires mainstream global drug policy today is based on a false premise: that global drug markets can be eradicated."

Pérez Molina concedes that moving beyond prohibition is problematic. "To suggest liberalisation – allowing consumption, production and trafficking of drugs without any restriction whatsoever – would be, in my opinion, profoundly irresponsible. Even more, it is an absurd proposition. If we accept regulations for alcoholic drinks and tobacco consumption and production, why should we allow drugs to be consumed and produced without any restrictions?"

He insists, however, that prohibition has failed and an alternative system must be found. "Our proposal as the Guatemalan government is to abandon any ideological consideration regarding drug policy (whether prohibition or liberalisation) and to foster a global intergovernmental dialogue based on a realistic approach to drug regulation. Drug consumption, production and trafficking should be subject to global regulations, which means that drug consumption and production should be legalised, but within certain limits and conditions."

The decision by Pérez Molina to speak out is seen as highly significant and not without political risk. Polls suggest the vast majority of Guatemalans oppose decriminalisation, but Pérez Molina's comments are seen by many as helping to usher in a new era of debate. They will be studied closely by foreign policy experts who detect that Latin American leaders are shifting their stance on prohibition following decades of drugs wars that have left hundreds of thousands dead.

Mexico's president, Felipe Calderón, has called for a national debate on the issue. Last year Juan Manuel Santos, Colombia's president, told the Observer that if legalising drugs curtailed the power of organised criminal gangs who had thrived during prohibition, "and the world thinks that's the solution, I will welcome it".

One diplomat closely involved with the summit described the event as historic, saying it would be the first time for 40 years that leaders had met to have an open discussion on drugs. "This is the chance to look at this matter with new eyes," he said.

Latin America's increasing hostility towards prohibition makes Obama's attendance at the summit potentially difficult. The Obama administration, keen not to hand ammunition to its opponents during an election year, will not want to be seen as softening its support for prohibition. However, it is seen as significant that the US vice-president, Joe Biden, has acknowledged that the debate about legalising drugs is now legitimate.

Fernando Henrique Cardoso, former president of Brazil and chairman of the global commission on drug policy, has said it is time for "an open debate on more humane and efficient drug policies", a view shared by George Shultz, the former US secretary of state, and former president Jimmy Carter.
Click to expand...

source
 
obamas a lier hes just playing the fence to try and get as much votes as possible.. fuck em shits rigged anyways
 
The WOD is a great victory. Even the UN recognises illegal drug money has saved capitalism.
 
Captain.Heroin said:
Every politician knows that the war on drugs will never win.

War is still fun to fight, even when you lose.
Click to expand...

No they know it will never win but the US gov't is making too much money off the War on People, oops I mean Drugs, to ever want to stop it. The gov't ships in the Heroin and coke and then sells it to its own citizens then that gives them an excuse to arrest and put you in a private prison and make you work labor for free, basically a way to turn u into a slave.. fuck this world
 
^ on point with all of that.. why did he even show up, he wont even answer a simple marijuan ? for the people.. obamas whack it looks like michelle calls the shots in their relationship
 
Herbal~Jah said:
No they know it will never win but the US gov't is making too much money off the War on People, oops I mean Drugs, to ever want to stop it. The gov't ships in the Heroin and coke and then sells it to its own citizens then that gives them an excuse to arrest and put you in a private prison and make you work labor for free, basically a way to turn u into a slave.. fuck this world
Click to expand...

um... no. Someone has been watching one to many conspiracy theory documentaries.

American Prisons essentially give criminals a free place to stay, a bed, a shower, clothes, and food. Do you think all that is free? lol try $20,000 a year OR MORE on every single inmate. Labor? tell me what labor these people are doing lmao. What it comes down to is that we just have a really flawed law and judicial system at the moment. And it seriously needs a real make over, so that we can stop putting people in prison for ridiculous sh*t like drug position or distribution, and use those tax dollars to put the real criminals behind bars, which are rapists and murderers, etc. But it's completely insane to really believe the government is importing these drugs in themselves, and then selling them to people just to jail them for "labor" lmao. Where the heck did you hear that?

Odd_nonposter said:
Really now? Please elaborate. Your statement can be interpreted in many ways.
Click to expand...

sarcasm...

do you even sarcasm bro?
 
^ Guess you've never heard of the Contras, or the war on ethnic Americans by way of cocaine.
 
pbuilder said:
um... no. Someone has been watching one to many conspiracy theory documentaries.

American Prisons essentially give criminals a free place to stay, a bed, a shower, clothes, and food. Do you think all that is free? lol try $20,000 a year OR MORE on every single inmate. Labor? tell me what labor these people are doing lmao. What it comes down to is that we just have a really flawed law and judicial system at the moment. And it seriously needs a real make over, so that we can stop putting people in prison for ridiculous sh*t like drug position or distribution, and use those tax dollars to put the real criminals behind bars, which are rapists and murderers, etc. But it's completely insane to really believe the government is importing these drugs in themselves, and then selling them to people just to jail them for "labor" lmao. Where the heck did you hear that?



sarcasm...

do you even sarcasm bro?
Click to expand...

Here, catch! Free education!

CIA Drug Ops Conspiracy-Unaired Documentary-Full Length
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfH3NxrY_aM

Iran Contra Coverup: 1 of 8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35KcYgMPiIM
From the description : "This documentary of the Iran Contra affair consolidates the evidence and conspiracy theories of the incident after the 13-week Congressional hearings proved inadequate, acting merely as "damage control" and failing to show any sincere effort to get to the real truth of the matter. Illuminated are the delays by the Reagan-Bush ticket in releasing the American hostages until after the election -- after outgoing President Jimmy Carter worked tirelessly to free them. Accusations are levied that a "shadow government" regularly carries out covert activities at home and abroad, and the CIA is implicated in dealing in huge shipments of cocaine and with the profits supplying weapons to the right-wing activities of the Nicaraguan Contras. Also examined are the actions of Oliver North, who willfully ignored the Constitution in masterminding covert weapons deals with Middle-Eastern governments to additionally fund the Nicaraguan Contras. This documentary raised more questions than answers in a post-Watergate political climate where the public had become desensitized to scandal. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide"

Even the staunchest skeptic (and raving lunatic) known to the world, Terrence McKenna, says it's true, so it must be!
 
The CIA bringing drugs into America to be sold is a VERY well documented FACT as they have been caught doing so many times.
Read "Dark Alliance" by Gary Webb, who, by the way, was murdered by the government for exposing so much CIA/drug importation corruption. Don't believe me? Look it up yourself.
 
US drug laws are messed up beyond belief BUT remember in some countries they will have your head cut off for as little as a few grams of Cannabis
 
Madhatter4 said:
US drug laws are messed up beyond belief BUT remember in some countries they will have your head cut off for as little as a few grams of Cannabis
Click to expand...
Yes but in the US we criminalize entire segments and classes of society because of the substances they need to cope with life on this planet that is not of our/their making.
 
Thank the lord this summit is happening. My parents' families basically fled Colombia because of the violence the drug war instigated there, and the current Colombian president has been open to rethinking drug policy for a while now. Change on the part of American politicians is pretty unlikely - especially since violence from the drug war in the US is generally limited to poor urban areas that a large part of the populace are happy to ignore. Meanwhile, the majority of Latin America has faced the violence of the drug war for decades, and most of the demand driving the drug trade is coming from the US. It's unsurprising that the push against prohibition from come from Central and South America....one can only hope that American politicians can bring themselves to actually give a shit.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top