Ending the Global Drug War: Voices from the Front Lines

Anthony L. Fisher | December 13, 2011

“Ever since the War on Drugs, everything has hit the fan,” says Romesh Bhattacharji, former Narcotics Commissioner of India. Rather than continue the unnecessary and costly drug war, Bhattacharji advises the United States to simply "Relax, take it easy, [and] tolerate.”

Last month, at the Cato Institute’s “Ending the Global War on Drugs” conference, Bhattacharji’s sentiments were echoed by ex-drug czars, cops, politicians, intellectuals, liberal and conservative journalists, and even the former President of Brazil. Reason.tv attended the event and spoke with a number of the featured speakers, including:

Glenn Greenwald, Salon.com

Mary Anastasia O'Grady, Wall Street Journal

Tucker Carlson, The Daily Caller

Luis Alberto Lacalle Pou, Speaker of the House of Deputies, Uruguay

Leigh Maddox, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition; University of Maryland School of Law

Enrique Gomez Hurtado, former Senator, Colombia

Larry Campbell, Senator, Canada

Romesh Bhattacharji, former Narcotics Commissioner, India

Eric Sterling, Criminal Justice Policy Foundation

Harry G. Levine, Queens College (N.Y.)

Juan Carlos Hidalgo, Cato Institute

About 6.15 minutes.   Produced and Edited by Anthony L. Fisher. Camera by Joshua Swain, with help from Seth McKelvey.   Graphics by Meredith Bragg.

For more Reason coverage on the Drug War, go here.

For Cato Institute Drug War coverage and research, go here.

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Editor's Note: We invite comments and request that they be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of Reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment or disable your ability to comment for any reason at any time.

Tim|12.13.11 @ 3:11PM|#

We don't do "relax".

Old Man With Candy|12.13.11 @ 3:17PM|#

Article link gave me a 404. 16 short of chuckle-worthy.

|12.13.11 @ 3:26PM|#

Who are you trying to fool? You know good and well that all these people are just Republicans who want to smoke pot.

|12.13.11 @ 3:33PM|#

Man, that creepy music loop made me so anxious.

|12.13.11 @ 3:43PM|#

The Narcotics Commissioner of India telling the the federal government of the United States to take it easy and "tolerate". Holy God, have we come downhill.

Dan|12.13.11 @ 3:43PM|#

The "War on Drugs" will never end because of this:

There are too many companies making money selling tools to fight it.

There are too many companies making money selling services to house these horrible criminals (drug users) once they have been caught.

Legalized drugs would make these same companies NO money, because if it were not for legislation, drugs would be cheap.

So lobbyists make sure that they do not become legal.

We need get the money out of the control of the government so we can make more sane rational decisions.

End of story.

|12.13.11 @ 3:48PM|#

Our ancesters knew how to live. From a review of a new book on Queen Anne

After scoring a point against his arch-rival the Earl of Oxford, Anne's secretary of state Lord Bolingbroke boasted of how he had spent the day: 'In the morning I went to the Queen and ruined the dog [ie Oxford]; at dinner I got drunk with champagne; and at night was put to bed to the prettiest whore in England.'

AlmightyJB|12.13.11 @ 6:26PM|#

Unfortunately, for a Lord "put to bed" meant raped and "prettiest whore" meant whatever unlucky pretty peasant girl happend to be in the vicinity, married or not. Not to piss on your fantasy.

Hugh Akston|12.13.11 @ 3:51PM|#

It's nice to see people advocating the end of the WoD, but this is hardly the front lines. Former law enforcement, tenured professors, retired appointees, journalists, and political zombies looking for a way to keep their names in the news. Granted, there are two (ostensibly) sitting members of legislative bodies, but one of them represents a made up country (hint: it ain't the guy from Uruguay).

Show me some people wearing badges or sitting US politicians saying we need to stop the madness, and I will say we are making progress.

|12.13.11 @ 4:55PM|#

Canada a made-up country? Dude, that's harsh!

Emperor Wears No Clothes|12.14.11 @ 3:07AM|#

Larry Campbell's a hack. Former Crown pathologist and then Vancouver's mayor. Crusader for any left-wing cause that a hippie could wet dream. Not that i disagree with his stance here. But the guy is a world-class grandstander.

|12.14.11 @ 11:17AM|#

I'll take your word about Larry Campbell, but I was talking about Canada.

|12.13.11 @ 5:09PM|#

Us CIA, Skull And Bonesmen are for the drug war...just because we think it is good.

Sven|12.13.11 @ 3:58PM|#

Saying that the war on drugs cannot be won is not really correct. If you gave police the authority to shoot anyone in possession of illegal drugs, you could probably almost eliminate these substances from society. And you would get rid of a lot of evil lawbreakers too, which could be seen as an additional benefit. Of course, once all these illegal substances are not available anymore, people will switch to glue and paint and so on. But at least we would have won the war on drugs.

The Police|12.13.11 @ 4:15PM|#

I believe I pretty much have the authority to shoot anybody I please.

Sven|12.13.11 @ 4:28PM|#

Of course Sir, you all are heroes after all, and heroes don't do wrong. And you are doing a good job in terms of killing people in this country, but you should really focus on the people who truly deserve to be punished: people who use mind altering substances which some crooks in Congress said are evil. These people are the worst scum on earth and deserve to die. I mean, imprisoning them and having them butt raped by murderers is good, but it would be much better if we could just shoot them all immediately. So please, dear US police, it is not just bums with mental problems, or random Native Americans, or children in houses that were mistakenly SWAT raided that should be shot. We need to focus on the real trouble makers, and we need to shoot a lot more of them. Please apologize the hint of criticism towards you, you are still heroes of course.

Les|12.13.11 @ 4:21PM|#

Since you cannot give police this authority, it follows that you cannot win the war on drugs.

Sven|12.13.11 @ 4:31PM|#

That's not correct, Singapore is not far away from what I propose, and they have a much smaller drug problem than the US. The logical consequence is that we need to take their strategy and crank it up a notch.

1920's German|12.13.11 @ 4:52PM|#

You know, I really hate trains running late.

|12.13.11 @ 5:12PM|#

bad for prison industry...We prefer to keep society closer to the edge of chaos. The only way to herd the sheeple in the proper directions is to keep them fearful.

|12.13.11 @ 6:00PM|#

That's what Newt wants to do - execute Willie Nelson. That'll save the children.

Of course you'll have to execute our last 3 presidents and Micheal Phelps. And say adios to most all our great entertainers and musicians ... and half the population of the U.S.

Meh, easier to just execute the squares who are all uptight about weed. Nature FTW!

AlmightyJB|12.13.11 @ 6:32PM|#

Actually you could just nuke the entire country. No more drug use or "bad" (gay, unmarried, non-missionary position, non-procreative)sex and no heathens. God will be so pleased.

|12.13.11 @ 5:10PM|#

if you shot all the rulebreakes then who would be in the prisons I have invested in? 2 million beds...gotta fillem up to keep the PE happy.

Sven|12.13.11 @ 5:39PM|#

how about imprisoning them evil illegal immigrants for 10-20 years before we deport them? as punishment for their heinous crimes...

first|12.13.11 @ 5:49PM|#

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Robert Morris|12.15.11 @ 1:31PM|#

I for one think the drug war is awesome!!!

http://www.youtube.com/user/Mo.....ture=watch

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