Statement from Ethan Nadelmann: Presidents Obama and Peña Nieto Should Have “Real Conversation” About Alternatives to Drug Prohibition in order to Reduce Violence, Improve Public Safety and Health
As President Obama departs for a three-day trip to Mexico and Central America to meet with several regional counterparts, advocates are urging him to put drug policy reform at the top of the agenda.
The failed drug war has wreaked havoc throughout Latin America. In Mexico, the war on drugs has caused an estimated 70,000 deaths, 25,000 disappearances and over 250,000 internally displaced people since 2006. Meanwhile, drug trafficking organizations have increasingly moved or expanded their operations to Central America, which has become one of the most dangerous regions in the world, according to the United Nations. And rather than reducing the supply of or demand for drugs, prohibitionist drug policies have only enriched criminal organizations while increasing rates of incarceration and drug-related harms.
Obama is scheduled to meet Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto on Thursday and then travel to Costa Rica on Friday to meet with President Laura Chinchilla, as well as heads of state of the other Central American countries and the Dominican Republic. Many of these leaders have voiced support for alternatives to drug prohibition – including exploring options for legally regulating marijuana and other drugs – in order to reduce the power and profits of violent drug traffickers.
Statement by Ethan Nadelmann, Executive Director of the Drug Policy Alliance:
“The best thing Presidents Obama and Peña Nieto could do for their respective countries when they meet tomorrow is have a “real” conversation about drugs and the need for a paradigm shift in both nations’ drug control policies. President Obama could tell his counterpart that Colorado and Washington’s efforts to legally regulate marijuana are just the start of a political process that will eventually end marijuana prohibition nationally. He could tell him that he’ll do his best to reduce domestic demand for Mexican marijuana by advising his fellow citizens to “buy American.” And he could tell him that his administration’s rhetorical shift toward a drug policy grounded primarily in public health rather than criminal justice measures will soon be matched by real policy changes that remove issues of drug use and addiction from the criminal law. He could even say that he’s been persuaded by the overwhelming scientific evidence that the best way to reduce U.S. demand for the heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine exported by Mexican drug traffickers is to embrace the lessons of European harm reduction policies.
“Will President Obama do this? Unfortunately I doubt it – but until he does, not much is going to change for the better when it comes to drug policies on both sides of the border.”
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
Over 80 percent of Truthout‘s funding comes from small individual donations from our community of readers, and the remaining 20 percent comes from a handful of social justice-oriented foundations. Over a third of our total budget is supported by recurring monthly donors, many of whom give because they want to help us keep Truthout barrier-free for everyone.
You can help by giving today. Whether you can make a small monthly donation or a larger gift, Truthout only works with your support.