Pubdate: Sun, 19 May 2013
Source: Observer, The (UK)
Copyright: 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited
Contact:  http://www.observer.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/315

EUROPE AND THE US SHOULD HEED LATIN AMERICA ON DRUGS

You wouldn't know it from listening to UK officials but a 
game-changing debate is taking place in the Americas about the war on 
drugs. There is a growing belief that the current punitive-based 
approach has failed. It has visited a savage level of violence on 
Latin America as narco cartels, moving cocaine and cannabis into the 
US, have butchered and bribed their way through the continent. The 
killing and corrupting of public officials  judges, police, 
politicians  threatened, and still threatens, to demolish the 
institutions of those states.

Those countries are now asking uncomfortable questions of the US and 
Europe, such as, why do we suffer so much in trying to prevent 
cocaine and cannabis leaving our countries in order to reach those 
markets where they are mostly consumed? There is near-unanimous 
agreement in Latin America that the war on drugs has failed.

A year ago, at the Summit of the Americas in Colombia, regional 
leaders, including Barack Obama, agreed to commission a study on drug 
policies and to recommend options. The report was delivered last week 
by the Organisation of American States (OAS), which includes all 35 
North and South American countries. As we report on other pages, the 
report provides an evidence-based approach to rethinking the drugs 
war. It sets out different scenarios, including legalised, regulated 
markets, and provides a stimulus to debate new approaches. It also 
challenges America and Europe to engage with the new mood in Latin America.

Those countries are increasingly vocal in their determination to 
reset the war on drugs. There are clear signals that one or more may 
unilaterally opt out and stop prosecuting those who pass drugs 
through their country. It is time for Europe and the US to join a 
conversation that has gained real momentum. If they leave it much 
longer, there is a danger no one in Latin America will be listening.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom