Finally, an international commission, which included George Schultz has officially determined that the “war on drugs” has failed. We’ve spent decades incarcerating users, invading other nations (Panama, Bolivia, Colombia), and the drug trade is stronger than ever.
Perhaps we need a new tactic that takes the violence out of the program? Rehabilitation is much cheaper than incarceration, even if we have to send a person to rehab a dozen times in just a few years! And if we regulate drugs as we do alcohol and tobacco, we can use the revenue to pay for that rehabilitation. As it is, we are deep in debt, and it is only getting worse with the drug war.