The War on Drugs: A 40 Year Failure

Friday, June 17th marked 40 years since former President Richard Nixon declared a war on drugs. Four decades have demonstrated this war to be a catastrophic failure, especially for the Latino community. In commemoration of this shameful anniversary, community leaders across the country are organizing to demand its end.
   That we have lost the war on drugs is beyond doubt.  In spire of wasting over a trillion dollars and incarcerating millions of people for nonviolent drug offenses, drug consumption and supply have no declined at all. 
   Latinos suffer disproportionately this war’s consequences. Although Latinos consume drugs at lower rates than whites, they are arrested and incarcerated for nonviolent drug offenses at rates far higher than whites. An arrest or conviction for a drug offense negatively affects a person for their whole life – as an obstacle to securing a job or an education, or as a cause of deportation or other immigration consequences.
   Meanwhile, 40,000 people have been killed in Mexico because the prohibition of drugs has created an immense black market from which violent criminals daily enrich themselves.  They use the obscene profits from this market to corrupt public officials and to terrorize Mexican society. And the same thing is happening in the countries of Central America, in Colombia, and, to varying degrees, in communities around the world.
   These are the high costs – in lives and in resources — of the failed drug war. These costs were highlighted recently in a report released by the Global Commission on Drug Policy, which called for a fundamental shift in how our society deals with drugs. The Commission is composed of distinguished international figures, such as Kofi Annan, ex Secretary General of the United Nations, the ex presidents of Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Switzerland, and towering figures in Latin American cultural life, including the famous authors Mario Vargas Llosa and Carlos Fuentes. Its recommendations include the decriminalization of drugs and the exploration of legal options for regulating them, in order to reduce their harms and break the economic power of organized crime.
   In the same spirit, activists and community organizations around the country are commemorating the anniversary with a Day of Action to raise awareness of the drug war’s impact, and to demand a new strategy. 50 events are taking place in 15 states, including major cities like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, New Orleans and Washington DC. In Los Angeles, the William C. Velasquez Institute organized a forum for Latino leaders to discuss the drug war’s devastating impact on the Latino community, and to demand its end.
   Because this anniversary requires action. We cannot endure one more year of the drug war. Not one more person murdered by criminals who are sustained by prohibition. Not one more member of our community arrested, incarcerated or deported just for possessing drugs. Not one more cent for a war that’s impossible to win, which means one cent less for the education of our children and the health of our communities.
   What better way to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the drug war, than to reflect on its failures, and to call for a new strategy.
iel Ernesto Robelo is a research associate for the Drug Policy Alliance in Berkeley, California.