Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Prohibition Doesn't Work

Using drug and racketeering statutes and extradition agreements, federal prosecutors are sending a steady parade of Mexican drug lords into U.S. prisons. Although that is having a chilling effect on the smuggling cartels, there is no sign that the convictions are breaking the organizations, which are growing more violent, according to U.S. officials and other experts.

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How much more evidence is needed to convince policy makers that our current prohibition-based drug policies are not only failing to reduce drug use and abuse, but are in fact, contributing to violence in Mexico and elsewhere. We've had decades of experience with trying to stem to flow of drugs, and all we have to show for it are millions of dollars wasted and thousands of lives destroyed. There are some signs that change is afoot, but if policies do change, they will be incremental and slow to appear. In the mean time, more people will die, our prison population will continue to increase, and more millions will be sacrificed on the alter of ideology. 

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