SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
The War on Drugs Has Failed: Report
Drugs should be considered public health rather than criminal justice issue, researchers suggest
Oct 01, 2013
The global War on Drugs has failed, as illegal drugs have only become cheaper, more abundant and more pure in recent decades, according to a report published by a group of U.S. and Canadian researchers on Monday in the British Medical Journal.
"The punitive prohibitionist approach to global drug control has proven remarkably costly, ineffective and counterproductive," said Ethan Nadelmann, director of Drug Policy Alliance, following news of the report.
"It has generated extraordinary levels of violence, crime and corruption while failing to reduce the availability and use of psychoactive drugs."
According to the report, in the U.S. the average price of heroin, cocaine and cannabis decreased by roughly 80% between 1990 and 2007. Average purity increased by 60%, 11% and 161% respectively.
Meanwhile, seizures of cannabis by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration increased by 465% between 1990 and 2010 and heroin seizures increased by 29%. Cocaine seizures fell by 49%.
The increased seizures of these drugs has also meant a massive increase in arrests and incarceration, some for very minor charges, as groups such as Drug Policy Alliance have pointed out.
According to Drug Policy Alliance, 1.53 million people were arrested in 2011 alone on nonviolent drug charges. The number of Americans incarcerated in 2011 in federal, state and local prisons and jails was 2,266,800 or 1 in every 99.1 adults, the highest incarceration rate in the world.
The U.S. has spent more than $51,000,000,000 per year on the War on Drugs.
"These findings add to the growing body of evidence that the war on drugs has failed," said Dr Evan Wood, scientific chair of the International Center for Science in Drug Policy and one of the research team members that produced the study.
"We should look to implement policies that place community health and safety at the forefront of our efforts, and consider drug use a public health rather than a criminal justice issue," added Wood.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Jacob Chamberlain
Jacob Chamberlain is a former staff writer for Common Dreams. He is the author of Migrant Justice in the Age of Removal. His website is www.jacobpchamberlain.com.
The global War on Drugs has failed, as illegal drugs have only become cheaper, more abundant and more pure in recent decades, according to a report published by a group of U.S. and Canadian researchers on Monday in the British Medical Journal.
"The punitive prohibitionist approach to global drug control has proven remarkably costly, ineffective and counterproductive," said Ethan Nadelmann, director of Drug Policy Alliance, following news of the report.
"It has generated extraordinary levels of violence, crime and corruption while failing to reduce the availability and use of psychoactive drugs."
According to the report, in the U.S. the average price of heroin, cocaine and cannabis decreased by roughly 80% between 1990 and 2007. Average purity increased by 60%, 11% and 161% respectively.
Meanwhile, seizures of cannabis by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration increased by 465% between 1990 and 2010 and heroin seizures increased by 29%. Cocaine seizures fell by 49%.
The increased seizures of these drugs has also meant a massive increase in arrests and incarceration, some for very minor charges, as groups such as Drug Policy Alliance have pointed out.
According to Drug Policy Alliance, 1.53 million people were arrested in 2011 alone on nonviolent drug charges. The number of Americans incarcerated in 2011 in federal, state and local prisons and jails was 2,266,800 or 1 in every 99.1 adults, the highest incarceration rate in the world.
The U.S. has spent more than $51,000,000,000 per year on the War on Drugs.
"These findings add to the growing body of evidence that the war on drugs has failed," said Dr Evan Wood, scientific chair of the International Center for Science in Drug Policy and one of the research team members that produced the study.
"We should look to implement policies that place community health and safety at the forefront of our efforts, and consider drug use a public health rather than a criminal justice issue," added Wood.
Jacob Chamberlain
Jacob Chamberlain is a former staff writer for Common Dreams. He is the author of Migrant Justice in the Age of Removal. His website is www.jacobpchamberlain.com.
The global War on Drugs has failed, as illegal drugs have only become cheaper, more abundant and more pure in recent decades, according to a report published by a group of U.S. and Canadian researchers on Monday in the British Medical Journal.
"The punitive prohibitionist approach to global drug control has proven remarkably costly, ineffective and counterproductive," said Ethan Nadelmann, director of Drug Policy Alliance, following news of the report.
"It has generated extraordinary levels of violence, crime and corruption while failing to reduce the availability and use of psychoactive drugs."
According to the report, in the U.S. the average price of heroin, cocaine and cannabis decreased by roughly 80% between 1990 and 2007. Average purity increased by 60%, 11% and 161% respectively.
Meanwhile, seizures of cannabis by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration increased by 465% between 1990 and 2010 and heroin seizures increased by 29%. Cocaine seizures fell by 49%.
The increased seizures of these drugs has also meant a massive increase in arrests and incarceration, some for very minor charges, as groups such as Drug Policy Alliance have pointed out.
According to Drug Policy Alliance, 1.53 million people were arrested in 2011 alone on nonviolent drug charges. The number of Americans incarcerated in 2011 in federal, state and local prisons and jails was 2,266,800 or 1 in every 99.1 adults, the highest incarceration rate in the world.
The U.S. has spent more than $51,000,000,000 per year on the War on Drugs.
"These findings add to the growing body of evidence that the war on drugs has failed," said Dr Evan Wood, scientific chair of the International Center for Science in Drug Policy and one of the research team members that produced the study.
"We should look to implement policies that place community health and safety at the forefront of our efforts, and consider drug use a public health rather than a criminal justice issue," added Wood.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.