Winding down the war on drugs

[edgarshade]

Economist

Feb 23rd 2013 | DENVER, LA PAZ, LISBON AND MADRID

With reader comments

Towards a ceasefire
Experiments in legalisation are showing what a post-war approach to drug control could look like

FROM the Colorado state capitol in Denver, head south on Broadway, one of the city’s main arteries, and before long you find yourself in “Broadsterdam”, a cluster of dispensaries with names like Ganja Gourmet and Evergreen Apothecary. They peddle dozens of strains of pot, as well as snacks, infusions and paraphernalia, to any state resident bearing a “red card”: proof of a doctor’s recommendation.

Landlords in the area were struggling, says William Breathes (a pseudonym), whose reviews for a local paper make him, he says, America’s first mainstream pot critic. But when Colorado began to regulate the sale of marijuana for medical use in 2010, they saw an opportunity.

Change is coming because the “war on drugs” is being convincingly won by drugs, and the powerful criminal gangs who deal in them. Since 1998, when the UN held an event entitled “A drug-free world: we can do it”, consumption of cannabis (marijuana) and cocaine has risen by about 50%; for opiates, it has more than trebled. And a swelling pharmacopoeia of synthetic highs is spinning heads in dizzying new ways. The UN reckons that 230m people used illegal drugs in 2010. They and their suppliers (usually the humblest ones) fill prisons in rich and poor countries alike. Drug convictions account for almost half of American prisoners in federal jails.

More...
http://www.economist.com/news/inter...hat-post-war-approach-drug-control-could-look

 

[Portillo]

"A drug-free world: we can do it"

I assume they mean an illegal drug free world. Because I doubt the world is going to stop being addicted to alcohol, caffeine, cigarettes and prescription drugs.

 

[Black]

I assume they mean an illegal drug free world. Because I doubt the world is going to stop being addicted to alcohol, caffeine, cigarettes and prescription drugs.

the only way to achieve a world free from illegal drugs is to legalize them.

 

[slimvictor]

Winding down the war on drugs reminds me of the way China is winding down the war on capitalism.
Without telling anybody, they slowly have embraced capitalism in practice, if not on the books.
The war on drugs is the same - more and more places are beginning to allow more drug use for at least some people.
But if you get on the wrong side of the authorities, you had better watch out.

 

[Spadez87]

It will never happen.

1. To many rich people are getting more rich
2. To many agencies like the CIA fund their black ops wars no one knows about with drug money.
3. The majority of people still thing keeping drugs illegal is a good idea ( i have no idea why)

 

[rickolasnice]

^ 3 is because of ignorance..

I've spoken to enough pro-illegalization people to see none of them know anything about the issue.

 

[Spadez87]

^ 3 is because of ignorance..

I've spoken to enough pro-illegalization people to see none of them know anything about the issue.

i agree, they know nothing about it because it doesnt involve their specific day to day lives so they just suck up whatever the man tells them is right.

They are all sheep.