Paying the Price

Parts of Mexico’s northern border region have become a battleground as gangs massacre hundreds. The town of Nuevo Laredo is under federal intervention. Bolivia’s political system is unraveling as protestors take the street, booting out two presidents in as many years. Colombia’s Congress has approved a controversial law allowing rightwing paramilitary militias to demobilize at the risk of entrenching their drug empires. In Rio de Janeiro, warlords dominate several of the city’s favelas in a brutal reign of terror. Latin America is paying a heavy price in lives, political instability, corruption and economic disruption for Washington’s futile war on drugs. Drugs are Latin America’s most lucrative export. North American and European consumers will pay almost any price for their drugs. Repression and interdiction have failed, so governments should legalize and regulate this trade. Opponents in the US say this would lead to further moral degradation. That seems scarcely possible. But a well-structured drug market would ensure a livelihood for farmers, drugs for addicts and tax revenues to pay for their counseling. Until policymakers realize this, Latin America – not the US – will continue paying a bitter price for its hypocritical war on drugs.