How the United States Fueled a Global Drug War, and Why It Must End
Open Society FoundationsJun 26, 2023
According to a UN report released Sunday, cocaine supply and demand have boomed while methamphetamine ("meth") has expanded beyond established markets.
The UN's Office on Drugs and Crime said that in 2021, the latest year for which data is available, cocaine cultivation and production reached record highs, with the number of users worldwide reaching 22M and steadily rising.
The global war on drugs, kickstarted by the US decades ago, has failed to mitigate the drug trade — and the drugs are only getting more lethal. Governments need to start investing in addiction treatment rather than punishment for what is a disease that has infected countless people worldwide. Yes, we need to try and stem the drug trade, but that goal cannot be accomplished with harsh prison sentences for the victims of these addictive substances alone.
The country with by far the most drug overdoses is the US, and that's directly related to its policy of unchecked mass migration across the southern border. The victims of these lethal drugs do deserve to be taken care of, but mitigating this health crisis can't start until opioids and other deadly substances are kept from ever entering the country in the first place. No matter what country it is, leaving the door wide open for smugglers can only lead to a worse situation.
There is a 44% chance that if Biden becomes president, the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine will be ended before 2024, according to the Metaculus prediction community.