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We could win the war on drugs if we could be successful in at least one of three areas:
 We could stop drug production in other countries.
On December 28, 1992 ABC Television aired a major special on the drug war in Bolivia
which, according to the Bush Administration, is our "best hope" for winning the
drug war in South America. They concluded decisively that there was no hope and that the
war on drug production has already been lost.
By the US Federal Government's own estimates, the entire United States consumption of
illegal drugs could be supplied by approximately one percent of the worldwide drug crop.
In their best year, US Drug Enforcement Agents working together with foreign governments
seized about one percent of the worldwide drug crop, leaving 99 percent free to supply the
US. The US Government also states that, in the unlikely event that drug production was
stopped in South America, several countries would suffer a major economic collapse.
There is no credible evidence anywhere to suggest that there is any possibility that
drug production can be eliminated in other countries.
"Peter Jennings Reporting: The Cocaine War, Lost in Bolivia," ABC News,
December 28, 1993
US Department of State, Bureau of International Narcotics Matters, International
Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR) (Washington: US Department of State, April,
1993
See also General Accounting Office Reports -
the many reports on drug interdiction and related topics
We could stop drugs at the border.
No. Any examination of the statistics regarding border interdiction shows quite clearly
that border interdiction is an expensive failure. In 1990, the General Accounting Office
completed a major study on border interdiction. They reported that border interdiction was
a waste of money and that no conceivable increase in funding or effort would make it any
better.
In 1988, Stirling Johson, the Federal prosecutor for New York, stated that the police
would have to increase drug seizures by at least 1,400 percent to have any impact at all
on the drug market, assuming there were no corresponding increases in production. That was
before the police busted twenty tons of cocaine in a single location and had to revise all
their estimates of the cocaine market upward.
The best Federal Government evidence has concluded that there is no way to stop, or
even greatly reduce, either production of drugs in foreign countries or the smuggling of
drugs into the US.
There is no credible evidence anywhere that we could stop, or even greatly reduce, the
flow of drugs across our borders. In fact, all of the Federal Government's own evidence
shows that this is impossible and it is a waste of money to try.
Sealing the Borders: The Effects of Increased Military Participation in Drug
Interdiction, Peter Reuter, The Rand Corporation, Santa Monica, CA, 1988
"Drug Control: Impact of the Department of Defense's Detection and Monitoring on
Cocaine Flows," General Accounting Office, September 19, 1991
See also General Accounting Office Reports -
the many reports on drug interdiction and related topics
We could stop the sale of drugs within the United
States,
The first question to address is how many drug dealers are there? Under the law, all
drug users are drug dealers because the laws in most states state that any distribution of
illegal drugs is considered a sale, regardless of whether there is a profit or monetary
interest involved. Therefore, under the law, anyone who ever passed a joint to the next
person at a rock concert is a "drug dealer". If we use the strict legal
definition of a "dealer" then there are somewhere between 12 and 40 million drug
dealers in the United States.
We might use a more restricted definition and assume that we will imprison only the
drug dealers who distribute drugs on a regular basis. Research has long established that
most drug sales are between friends who have known each other for a long time. Still,
under this tighter definition, most drug users would be classed as "drug
dealers" and we are left with the same problem of potentially incarcerating tens of
millions of Americans.
No. Most of the prisons and jails in the United States are already far in excess of
their planned capacity and correctional institutions in 24 states are under Federal court
order to release prisoners. Arresting all of the drug dealers would require construction
of at least five new prison beds for every one which now exists, assuming that no new drug
dealers came along to fill the gap.
In September, 1992 Sheriff Sherman Block announced that he would release 4,000
prisoners, about twenty percent of the total Los Angeles County jail population, because
there was no room to keep them and no more tax dollars to build more jails. For every
person who goes to jail from now on, another one will be released. Tough drug laws have
done all they can do and they have not solved the problem. The "get-tough"
policy is over.
There is no credible evidence anywhere that we could stop, or even greatly reduce, the
sale of drugs within the United States. In fact, all of the Federal Government's own
evidence shows that this is impossible and not only is it a waste of money to try, but it
actually does more harm than if we did nothing at all.
Many sources, including the list of major studies and Sterling Johnson, Federal
Prosecutor for the District of New York, in testimony before the House Select Committee on
Narcotics and Drug Abuse, September, 1988.
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