Ex-Presidents of Brazil, Colombia and Mexico Plead to End the War on Drugs

Seeing the devastation that the War On Drugs have brought to their countries, the three declare the war lost, and propose new thinking in this Wall Street Journal Op-Ed

Prohibitionist policies based on eradication, interdiction and criminalization of consumption simply haven't worked. Violence and the organized crime associated with the narcotics trade remain critical problems in our countries. Latin America remains the world's largest exporter of cocaine and cannabis, and is fast becoming a major supplier of opium and heroin. Today, we are further than ever from the goal of eradicating drugs.

Over the last 30 years, Colombia implemented all conceivable measures to fight the drug trade in a massive effort where the benefits were not proportional to the resources invested. Despite the country's achievements in lowering levels of violence and crime, the areas of illegal cultivation are again expanding. In Mexico -- another epicenter of drug trafficking -- narcotics-related violence has claimed more than 5,000 lives in the past year alone.

I have posted the failed War on Drugs before: A Day To Examine Drug Prohibition and Macabre Drug War Deaths in Mexico