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FPTV: The War over the War on Drugs

Should drugs like marijuana, heroin, and cocaine be legal? Watch the fireworks as Ethan Nadelmann, author of Think Again: Drugs and executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance clashes with David Murray, chief scientist at the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy.

October 22, 2007, 12:00 AM

Part I: Who's Winning the Drug War?
We are making major progress, argues Murray, adding, We and the rest of the civilized world has made this decision: This must be fought. But the drug war is a long, slow, devastating failure that is as bad as Vietnam and Iraq, Nadelmann counters. Part II: The Drug War's Price Tag
How much does the war on drugs cost each year? Nadelmann, who estimates that the tab for the global war on drugs runs as high as $100 billion annually, says the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy is playing with numbers. Part III: Can Harm Reduction Work?
These controversial programs could amount to sustaining people in their continued drug use, Murray contends. Nadelmann likens this argument to saying, If somebody shoots drugs, better off to let them die. Part IV: A Legalization Scenario
The problem isn't the law, Murray says. The problem is the drug. Nadelmann slams Murray's office as analogous to the Ministry of Information in the old Stalinist Soviet Union in terms of accuracy and truthfulness.

Part I: Who’s Winning the Drug War?
We are making major progress, argues Murray, adding, We and the rest of the civilized world has made this decision: This must be fought. But the drug war is a long, slow, devastating failure that is as bad as Vietnam and Iraq, Nadelmann counters. Part II: The Drug War’s Price Tag
How much does the war on drugs cost each year? Nadelmann, who estimates that the tab for the global war on drugs runs as high as $100 billion annually, says the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy is playing with numbers. Part III: Can Harm Reduction Work?
These controversial programs could amount to sustaining people in their continued drug use, Murray contends. Nadelmann likens this argument to saying, If somebody shoots drugs, better off to let them die. Part IV: A Legalization Scenario
The problem isn’t the law, Murray says. The problem is the drug. Nadelmann slams Murray’s office as analogous to the Ministry of Information in the old Stalinist Soviet Union in terms of accuracy and truthfulness.

Want to Know More?

The following links are a good place to start.

Think Again: Drugs
Prohibition has failedagain. Instead of treating the demand for illegal drugs as a market, and addicts as patients, policymakers the world over have boosted the profits of drug lords and fostered narcostates that would frighten Al Capone. Finally, a smarter drug control regime that values reality over rhetoric is rising to replace the war on drugs. By Ethan Nadelmann To Legalize, or Not to Legalize?
Drug legalization skeptics Paul Rexton Kan, Robert MacCoun, Peter Reuter, and Mathea Falco face off against Ethan Nadelmann.

Tag: Economics