From Drug War to Policy Reform: Implications of US Drug Strategy for Latin America

Abstract

This chapter will consider the changing landscape of the drug policy and law reform debate in the US, its relationship to developments in Latin America, and the implications for the future in the region. The US was the driving force behind the establishment of the international drug control regime, and historically has been its cheerleader and, in key respects, enforcer. But, as the failings of the punitive prohibitionist drug control paradigm, both domestically and internationally, have become increasingly acute, the consensus around the model has begun to fracture. Domestic concerns around mass incarceration and spiraling enforcement budgets at a time of austerity, combined with the horror at Drug War violence and crime in Central and South America, have all contributed to a sea change in attitudes over the past decade. Paradoxically, the spiritual home of the War on Drugs has now become a world leader in drug law reform. Real world policy changes, beginning with innovative harm reduction programs that challenged zero-tolerance ideologies, through the rapid roll out of state level medical cannabis programs, and concluding with the recent moves to regulate non-medical cannabis markets in Colorado and Washington States (with other states poised to follow); all point to a slow but accelerating unraveling of the War on Drugs. This chapter will explore these developments, analyzing how they have been influenced by, and are in turn influencing, parallel developments to the south.