Drugs dilemma: The call for legalization

Prohibition has created a lucrative illegal market controlled by organised criminals and has clearly failed to eliminate drugs from society. It is time to contemplate alternative ways to tackle the global drugs crisis.

by Adriana Mendez

One hundred years ago, on February 26 1909, diplomats gathered in Shanghai for the first international effort to ban trade in narcotic drugs. Many other prohibitions and conventions have followed in an attempt to create a “drug free world”, a fantasy that will never be achieved.

A century later, not only drug addiction is flourishing in the rich world, but developing countries now find themselves in a life-or-death struggle against gangsters with no easy way out.

As illegal drug use and the problems associated with drug markets have continued to grow, leaders and civilians have questioned the current enforcement-oriented policy of prohibition and developed new alternatives.

Those who argue in favour of the legalization propose shifting the focus of drugs from a law and order problem into a public health issue, which makes perfect sense.

To reject this possibility, as many conservative leaders have, without even listening to the arguments only means to continue with a policy that for more than a century has been not only ineffective, but counterproductive, benefiting traders, gangsters and of course corrupted officials.

Reality Bites: Numbers and Figures

No one can deny that the drug problem is vast and complex. Billions in government funds are spent every year in an attempt to eliminate the supply and use of drugs. Yet every year these drugs are used and trafficked by millions more people across the globe.

Today, more than 140 countries including nearly all the rich world prohibit the selling and possession of drug narcotics. With a few exceptions and more liberal variations the message is clear: Drugs are illegal, consumers and sellers are criminals.

Because of the illegality of the drug market, it is impossible to obtain certain numbers. But according to the United Nations 2008 World Drug Report latest statistics:

-More than 208 million people, or almost 5% of the world’s adult population still takes illegal drugs

-The total value of the illegal drug industry is worth some 320 billion dollars making it the world’s largest criminal market

-Opium production almost doubled between 2005 and 2007, reaching a level unprecedented in recent years. Afganistan alone accounted for over 92% of global opium production

-Coca cultivation increased 16% in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia in 2007. - Cannabis and AST production remained about the same.

- The opium/heroin market continued to expand. -Consumption of cocaine decreased in the USA, but increased in South America and Europe.

For a policy that aims to eliminate drug supply and use, it has failed in spectacular style.

Health Benefits

Legalization is by no means promoting the use of drugs. It is simply an alternative approach that would give more importance to the adequate treatment of addicts and education to prevent addiction rather than on pursuing consumers of drugs.

Under such scheme, governments would tax and regulate the drug trade. The funds raised and the millions saved on law enforcement could be used to treat addicts and educate the public in prevention campaigns.

By leaving drug production in the hands of unregulated profiteers, the public health problems have increased. Drugs are adulterated and mixed, and the risks of HIV or hepatitis by transfusion with dirty needles also rises.

According to Transform, a Drug Policies Foundation, as many as one million Russians are HIV positive; nearly 90% have been infected through injecting drug use! Legislation offers the only chance of dealing with addiction properly by providing honest information about health risks and guaranteeing treatment to addicts.

Doing the math

In terms of controlling prices, the legalization alternative offers great advantages. As things stand today, the price of an illegal substance is determined by the cost of distribution rather than the cost of production.

These allows organized criminals to higher the prices as much as they wish and to create a huge and dangerous illegal market. Inflated drug prices also push low income addicts to crime and prostitution in order to support their habits.

Many have claimed that moving away from prohibition to regulation of drug markets would be out weighted by the costs. Nevertheless, a recent analysis of the Comparison of the Cost-effectiveness of the Prohibition and Regulation of Drugs show substantial economic benefits of a move to regulation and control.

Driving away the gangsters

Perhaps my strongest reason for supporting the legalization of drugs is to put an end to the clearly unsuccessful and expensive “drug wars”. Prohibition has favoured gangsterism on scales never seen before, creating an attractive and rich illegal market.

Coming from a country like Mexico where blood is being shed at unprecedented levels, legalization seems to be the least bad solution. Since the government declared a drug war in December 2006, more than 10 000 people have been killed, 6 268 last year.

Gangs are turning into each other but what is more worrying is that they are also diversifying into other criminal businesses like extortion and kidnapping.

Army troops are fighting drug trafficking gangs across the country but with a high level of corruption and a number one consumer country as a neighbour this war is unlikely to succeed.

A similar situation is taking place in Afghanistan, Jamaica, Burma and other drug producer and transit countries which have become almost ungovernable because of the distorting and corrupting influence of an illegal market. For them, drug regulation is a precondition for any hope of a return to stability.

Prejudices and presumptions

Drug legalization is opposed by a vast majority of citizens and political leaders around the world. Many experts in drug prevention, education, treatment, and law enforcement equally oppose it.

It is natural that some people might feel frightened by the idea of legalizing all drugs, specially parents of teenagers or those who have experienced the terrible drug consequences

The fear comes mainly from the presumption that more people will take drugs on a legal regime. This might sound obvious but the truth is, as things are today, there is no link between the harshness of drug laws and the consumption rate.

According to the CIA factbook, the Uniteds States is the number one cocaine consumer, despite having one of the most repressive regimes. While Sweeden, which has one of the strictest policies against drugs, and Norway with a much more permissive regime, addiction rates are quite similar.

Give it a chance

Legalizing drugs will not eliminate illegal trafficking of drugs, nor the violence associated with the illegal drug trade will end abruptly. A black market would still exist and consumption will not decrease, in fact it will probably increase.

But drug policy can no longer be based on the fantasy of ‘a drug free world’. It is time to respond to the current crisis by effectively regulating and controlling drug use, rather than pursuing a useless and counterproductive fight to eradicate it.

Ending prohibition is not the solution, but it might be the first step to addressing the underlying problems such as mental ill-health, depression and social exclusion that in most occasions lead to drug use in the first place. It is a vital precondition for change.

By removing political and institutional obstacles and developing effective health interventions and integrated social programmes, the scenery could be better. We don´t know for sure, but a century of failure calls for a try.