Bloggings by boz

Reuters:

But U.S. drug czar Gil Kerlikowske said the shift [in cocaine trafficking and usage patterns] does not mean the United States can claim a triumph, as the drug trade reaches into and threatens to destabilize new regions.

"This does not mark a victory for anyone, and should actually give us pause," he told Reuters in an interview in Colombia late on Tuesday. "The last thing we should do is pat ourselves on the back."

This is a significant shift in US drug policy from the previous administration, but you may have missed it.

Under President Bush, the ONDCP essentially served as the cheerleader for how wonderful US drug policy was doing. If cocaine seizures went up, it proved better cooperation, success. If they went down, it showed there was less cocaine out there, success. If prices on US streets went up during one quarter, success. If purity changed, success. If the amount of money made by DTO's went down, success. If coca cultivation decreased in one country, success. If coca cultivation moved, success. If consumption demographics changed, success.

In all his years on the job, every piece of short term drug data would lead drug czar John Walters to make a declaration of success for US drug policy and an argument to continue what we're doing. Yet, if you look at the long term trends over the whole Bush administration, the drug trafficking and associated crime and violence stayed the same or got worse in most areas. Walters cherry-picked whatever piece of data was showing success that day while the vast majority of analysts in the US and Latin America would tell you the broader "War on Drugs" was failing.

The new drug czar is willing to look at drug statistics with a realistic eye and healthy skepticism rather than a reason to cheer. That's huge, because the first step to fixing the failure in our drug policy is acknowledging there is a problem, which requires an honest look at the data and what they mean. Those advocating immediate massive changes to US drug policy are still unhappy, but no matter how small these steps seem, they are the most important changes in US federal drug policy in decades. Slowly, things are moving in the right direction and we're approaching a more honest debate about drug policy.

Comments from earlier this year here and here.