Ending the Global Drug War: Voices from the Front Lines

"Ever since the War on Drugs, everything has hit the fan," says Romesh Bhattacharji, former Narcotics Commissioner of India. Rather than continue the unnecessary and costly drug war, Bhattacharji advises the United States to simply "Relax, take it easy, [and] tolerate."

Last month, at the Cato Institute's "Ending the Global War on Drugs" conference, Bhattacharji's sentiments were echoed by ex-drug czars, cops, politicians, intellectuals, liberal and conservative journalists, and even the former President of Brazil. Reason.tv attended the event and spoke with a number of the featured speakers, including:


Glenn Greenwald, Salon.com

Mary Anastasia O'Grady, Wall Street Journal

Tucker Carlson, The Daily Caller

Luis Alberto Lacalle Pou, Speaker of the House of Deputies, Uruguay

Leigh Maddox, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition; University of Maryland School of Law

Enrique Gomez Hurtado, former Senator, Colombia

Larry Campbell, Senator, Canada

Romesh Bhattacharji, former Narcotics Commissioner, India

Eric Sterling, Criminal Justice Policy Foundation

Harry G. Levine, Queens College (N.Y.)

Juan Carlos Hidalgo, Cato Institute

About 6.15 minutes.

 Produced and Edited by Anthony L. Fisher. Camera by Joshua Swain, with help from Seth McKelvey.

 Graphics by Meredith Bragg.

Visit Reason.tv for downloadable versions, and subscribe to Reason.tv's YouTube Channel to receive automatic updates when new material goes live.

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[michaelg74]

My father was a Highway Patrolman who was shot dead during a traffic stop. Another victim of the "War on Drugs". I miss him so much and wish my boys had a grandfather.

[tiggstah]

perhaps if the united states were to successfully implement the legalization and regulation of drugs, the resulting drop in crime surrounding the major street drugs would be a marker for the rest of the world to try the same.

i'm not saying that we up and legalize everything immediately, but marijuana is a very good place to start. then cocaine, maybe some form of opiates. if there were legal drugs then perhaps the stronger more life-wrecking ones wouldn't be so enticing.

[techcafe]

Tucker Carlson is such a smarmy, self-serving prick.

[mbcornelison74]

Hey, hey...easy guy. I know you are pissed but we aren't all shit heads. When I was young I could visit Matamoros or Reynosa, but the Drug War has ruined those already impoverished places. You're right, there is plenty of ignorance in America and the US Govt is pushing more propaganda all the time, but increasing numbers of us are fighting against it. I'm so glad that other countries are standing up to Americs's Big White Lie. Stay pissed, but please help us by blogging against prohibition.

[mbcornelison74]

They formed a group in China that shot "dopeheads" in the middle of the street, it was called the Communist Party. Sick sadistic tyrannts like you hate the Liberty of others, and you shred the Constitution that I swore to protect against enemies foreign or domestic. You come and try to shoot this former infantry soldier for taking medicine, and see what happens to your group of sloppy thugs.

[mbcornelison74]

I say disarm and rename the DEA. Now the Drug Education Agency with a new mandate to educate people about drugs and issue permits for free drug consumption. A person will need to pass a knowledge assesment and be issued a permit to buy things such as opioids. Those who cannot pass the test or who need immediate opioids can still be issued a prescription from a doctor. People experiencing addiction can go to the new DEA to seek help. Punitive measures respond to behavior, not to being 'high'.

[mbcornelison74]

I'm a chronic pain sufferer who can't get medicine, yet the streets are flooded with dope and pills. The DEA is coming down even more hysterically on pain meds, driving more drugs and people to the black market where they can then be criminalized for profit by the govt and the prison/plantations. Govt creates the prohibition, the prohibition creates crime, then the govt points to the crime and extorts protection money from the people. Nice racket.

[mbcornelison74]

What would happen if there were a prohibition on petrol? After all vehicles are certainly life threatening, why not force people not to use them? Why not make criminals out of fat people, the fatter the person the longer the prison sentence. This is all about making sure no one ever feels a high from a plant product, because according to some groups it's "immoral". Groups of sadists that love to watch others suffer while hiding behind a thin guise of morality. Prohibition is immoral.

[MOHAMAD FUQ]

well, this is what happens when you follow like a sheep and dont have a brain to think for yourself.

[peterpotpie]

Prohibition is immoral.

[WeAskThePeople]

GO AHEAD.. make all the bizarre stupid ineffective & moralistic

ideological LAWS you want.. WASTE tons of MONEY , mountains of

dollars on guns & law enforcement that no one wants.. that

could have been spent on school & hospitals to build PRISONS

instead >.make our POLICE run around till they DROP DEAD ..

have your choppers filled with coppers search & seize every

last plant on planet earth ..HUH.. Cannabis will still be here

LONG AFTER you & your ridiculous social experiment ARE GONE