Drug Watch Research Paper

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For the past 50 years, an international coalition has waged what United States President Richard Nixon once dubbed the “War on Drugs.” Since the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs—and even dating back to coordinated efforts initiated under the umbrella of the League of Nations—the international community has taken an unequivocal stance against the production, sale, and distribution of narcotic drugs. And yet, half a century later, the problems of drug trafficking, drug abuse, Narcoterrorism, and a multitude of others relating to the drug trade abound. Indeed, a 2011 report from the Global Commission on Drug Policy found, “The global war on drugs has failed, with devastating consequences for individuals and societies

Fifty years after the initiation of the UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, and 40 years after President Nixon launched the US government’s war on drugs; fundamental reforms in national and global drug control policies are urgently needed. Vast expenditures on criminalization and repressive measures directed at producers, traffickers and consumers of illegal drugs have clearly failed to effectively curtail supply or consumption. Apparent victories in eliminating one source or trafficking organization are negated almost instantly by the emergence of other sources and traffickers. Repressive efforts directed at consumers impede public health measures to reduce HIV/AIDS, overdose fatalities and other harmful consequences of drug use. Government expenditures on futile supply reduction strategies and incarceration displace more cost-effective and evidence-based investments in demand and harm reduction. The international drug control system was founded with two core goals. First, it sought to reduce the negative health consequences generated by drugs. Second, it promised to guarantee access to essential medicines. Neither of these aims has been achieved. To the contrary, drug policy emphasizing criminal justice has generated new social and health

Drug prohibition creates a vast illegal market for drug production and distribution, enriching and empowering organized criminals, corrupt government officials and warring factions. The staggering levels of crime and corruption generated by the illegal drug trade in Mexico are among the most dramatic examples of social crises caused by prohibitionist policies. In Bolivia, the violence and economic hardship caused by the military suppression of coca production have threatened the country’s fragile democracy. And in Colombia, nearly all of the armed actors in the brutal, decades-old civil war have derived profits from the drug trade. The list is very