|
Latin
America
Experts
Urge
Next
President
to
"Reassess"
Drug
Policy
12/15/00
In an open letter to the
next president, nine prominent mainstream academic Latin Americanists have
called for broad changes in US drug policy at home and abroad.
The letter, "The Case for
Early and Sustained Engagement With the Americas: A Memorandum to
the President-Elect and His Foreign Affairs/National Security Team," was
released under the auspices of the University of Miami's Dante B. Fascell
North-South Center on 12/11. It is available online in its entirety
in English at http://www.miami.edu/nsc/pages/pubs-white-pdf/memorandum.pdf,
with Spanish and Portuguese versions of the executive summary at http://www.miami.edu/nsc/pages/pubs-white-pdf/nuevopresidente.pdf
http://www.miami.edu/nsc/pages/pubs-white-pdf/presidenteEleito.pdf
respectively.
Writing that "the drug war
remains a mission that has not succeeded," the signatories argue that drug
policy has distorted and "narcotized" US policy toward Latin America.
The academics note the continuing easy availability of cocaine in the US
despite years of effort and billions of dollars spent on enforcement and
interdiction. Referring especially to Colombia, they also warn of
growing regional concern "that US drug policy may have the unintended consequence
of spurring region-wide violence."
The signatories had five
broad recommendations for drug and national security policy toward Latin
America:
-
"Undertake a full-scale reassessment
of anti-drug policy at home and abroad, with a view toward devising a more
effective approach our neighbors will support."
-
"Invest far greater resources
in education, prevention, and treatment of hard-core drug users in the
United States."
-
"Reassess the role of the US
military in the drug war."
-
"Keep our promises to Colombia,
but consider modifying the emphasis of our assistance."
-
"Seek to energize mechanisms
of hemispheric security and defense."
The authors suggested bureaucratic
fixes, such as streamlining the chain of command for drug policy, as well
as policy prescriptions, such as redressing the imbalance between US military
and civilian law enforcement in Latin America. They also called explicitly
for the new president to support the Organization of American States' (OAS)
Multinational Evaluation Mechanism as an alternative to the US' annual
certification of compliance with its drug war objectives. (See story
below for more on the Multinational Evalation Mechanism).
The signers of the letter,
including Richard Millett of the United States Marine Corps University,
Georges Fauriol of the Center for Strategic and International Studies,
and Jennifer McCoy of the Carter Center and Georgia State University, make
clear with some of their recommendations, as well as their affiliations,
that they are well within the mainstream political consensus.
On Colombia, where the US
is committed to a $1.3 billion (so far) war plan, the signatories appear
to wish only to modulate US policy, not radically alter it. Likewise,
their call to "energize" the hemispheric repressive apparatus will only
send chills down the spine of any good civil libertarian.
And when viewed in the context
of other policy recommendations in the letter -- on freedom and democracy,
trade and growth, and bilateral relations with key countries -- the drug
policy recommendations take on the steely tenor of realpolitik. Calling
for expanded free trade and presidential fast track authority to negotiate
new such agreements, the authors' bottom line seems to be that "seen coldly,
US interests in a prosperous, free, and democratic hemispheric are not
secure," suggesting that they call current drug policies into question
only insofar as they contribute to that perceived insecurity.
-- END --
|
Issue #164, 12/15/00
New Jersey Racial Profiling Documents Go Online: Historic Opportunity for Activists, Researchers, Public | On Campuses, Student Drug Reform Movement Gathers Steam, Federal Financial Aid Anti-Drug Law a Rallying Point | Latin America Experts Urge Next President to Reassess Drug Policy | OAS Body Meets to Evaluate Hemispheric Nations' Drug Policies, Could Provide Model to Replace US Certification | Rocky vs. Barry: Salt Lake City Mayor Takes on the Drug Czar | Follow That Story: British Columbia Premier Backs Vancouver Agreement, Heroin Maintenance | Follow That Story: Oregon Asset Forfeitures on Hold for Now, Cops, Prosecutors Worried About New Law's Impact | Newsbrief: Under Budget Pressure, Washington State Officials Consider Shorter Sentences For Drug Offenders | Alberta Judge Rules Parliament Must Create Medical Marijuana Source or Cultivation Will Be Legal in the Province | Media Scan: Daily News on Amnesty for Drug Offenders | Job Opportunity: US Drug Czar | The Reformer's Calendar | Editorial: Unattainable Standards
|
This issue -- main page
This issue -- single-file printer version
Drug War Chronicle -- main page
Chronicle archives
|
PERMISSION to reprint or
redistribute any or all of the contents of Drug War Chronicle (formerly The Week Online with DRCNet is hereby
granted. We ask that any use of these materials include proper credit and,
where appropriate, a link to one or more of our web sites. If your
publication customarily pays for publication, DRCNet requests checks
payable to the organization. If your publication does not pay for
materials, you are free to use the materials gratis. In all cases, we
request notification for our records, including physical copies where
material has appeared in print. Contact: StoptheDrugWar.org: the Drug Reform Coordination Network,
P.O. Box 18402, Washington, DC 20036, (202) 293-8340 (voice), (202)
293-8344 (fax), e-mail [email protected]. Thank
you.
Articles of a purely
educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of the DRCNet
Foundation, unless otherwise noted.
|
