Daily Archive

As Mexico counts 35,000 deaths resulting directly from the drug war that President Felipe Calderon initiated in 2006, Former Mexican President Vicente Fox among others,  argues for legalization to stop the carnage.  Meanwhile, here in the U.S., it seems pointless to incarcerate users of pot and other drugs, while at the same time fueling the drug trade coming in from Mexico.  Everyone seems to lose except the DEA and the Prison Lobby.  What would happen if much of that enforcement effort went into rehab and recovery.  That would be a good counterpoint to what Mexico is thinking about.  Even if  sanctions remained in the U.S. for drug trafficking, we could help millions of Americans, simply with the  decriminalization of use, diverting that savings to rehab.   Portugal embarked on just such an experiment more than a decade ago.  Nothing bad happened.  In fact, no one regrets it because their experiment showed positive results, lowering drug use and removing the cost of incarceration of drug use.  The whole point is to help those bit by their drug use; not hurt them.   Although, one can not say how this would work in the U.S., the Drug Czar has taken a cue from his look at Portugal.