Forget the Propaganda — Here’s the Drug War Data That Really Matters
As the New York Times notes, the use of hard drugs has remained stable over the past twenty years. Statistics tell us not only what we’re up against, but how desperately we need reform:
A war on drugs whose objective is to eradicate the drug market — to stop drugs from arriving in the United States and stop Americans from swallowing, smoking, inhaling or injecting them — is a war that cannot be won. What we care about is the harm that drugs, drug trafficking and drug policy do to individuals, society and even national security. Reducing this harm is a goal worth fighting for.
That’s exactly world leaders (and now the New York Times) are calling for decriminalization (if not full-blown legalization) of drugs — to replace a failed criminal justice approach with a public health strategy that will give us real results.