Can US Win its War on Drugs?
December 20, 2012
About 500,000 Americans today are incarcerated on drug charges. They include non-violent, first-time offenders put behind bars under strict mandatory sentencing laws enacted in the decades-long war on drugs. That war is also being waged overseas, involving considerable bloodshed and expense. A number of former heads of government now believe that war cannot be won.
Anthony Papa spent 12 years in prison for attempting to deliver 125 grams of cocaine, his first and only try. His profit would have been $500. Although he discovered his talent for art behind bars, others suffered.
“I was married. I had a seven-year-old daughter. It just ruined their lives because prison doesn’t stop at the prison wall. It goes beyond the wall," he said.
Papa says it costs billions of taxpayer dollars to keep drug offenders behind bars. “That money could be better spent keeping schools open, feeding needy children, helping needy communities,” he said.
Drugs can be deadly - both to those who use them, and those fighting the trade. In Mexico, there have been at least 47,000 drug-related killings over the past six years. Brazil and Colombia are also racked by drug violence.
Former U.S. presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, whose administrations funded the war on drugs at home and abroad, now say the approach is flawed.
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