: Reexamine the War
On Drugs.
he next u.s. president has
unique leverage to shape humanity’s destiny. The disproportionate importance of the
United States to the affairs of
other countries creates a cruel
paradox for those of us who
are not U.S. citizens. We do not
have the right to vote, but the
outcome of the presidential
elections will have a greater
impact on Latin Americans—
as well as on the citizens of
other countries—than the outcome of our own local contests.
We can only hope, therefore,
that the policies which have
caused such widespread damage over the last eight years
will be replaced by significant
and positive changes.
One area that calls for immediate re-evaluation is drug
policy. It is time to discuss (
together, instead of unilaterally)
the anti-drug effort in the region. The U. S. has invested
hundreds of millions of dollars to stop the flow of drugs
to the north. The results are, to
say the least, meager.
Recent figures show that the
potential of Colombia, Peru
and Bolivia to produce cocaine
is even greater today than it
was ten years ago. Any success
against the drug cartels that
can be claimed in Colombia
is offset in Mexico, which has
seen a great increase in drug
trafficking. Moreover, Mexican
society is now experiencing
unprecedented levels of drug-
