By almost any standard, America’s war on drugs has simply a costly and tragic flop. Illegal drugs remain abundantly available, have become cheaper and in some cases have improved in quality despite decades of efforts to rein in sales.
Experts report that wholesale abuse of crack cocaine seems to have burned itself out in inner cities only to surface in rural Mississippi and Kansas.
Political analysts note that drug policy issues are absent from the current presidential campaign, but some states are slowly re-evaluating their own policies. For example, over the past four years seven states and the District of Columbia have passed ballot initiatives legalising the personal use of marijuana for medical purposes.
Source: First, Inhale Deeply, Economist, September 2, 2000.
For more on Drug Use and Control http://www.ncpa.org/pd/social/social4.html
