Is it time to end the War on Drugs

Click the title: The article above recounts how Mexico's crack down on drug cartels has generated less product in Canada and spawned violence

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that the drug war has changed borders. Tougher law enforcement in Mexico has created a cocaine shortage in the Canada and now gangs in that country are trying to fill the market need. Mind you that most of their product is he

aded her to he good 'ol USA but what has happened is that they have squeezed the Canadian market to trickle and started

a gang war.

According to the article parts of Vancouver have seen several shooting deaths in just the last year. Most of the shootings have been teenagers. One particularly heinous crime was the stabbing of a young man who fought furiously. His hands were cut so bad that the scars could be seen during his funeral.

The fact is that in this time of econo

mic crisis the drug war is too expensive. For instance the Drug Library reports that it cost the United States $450,00 a year to c

onvict

and house one prisoner. That same money could be used to treat and educate 200 people. The war on drugs cost more th

an $50 billion dollars a year and we only stop about 1% of the drugs that come into our country.

The Wall Street journal reports that Latin countries that have borne the brunt of our war are now saying that it is a failure.

Meanwhile, violence due to the drug war has spiraled out of control prompting Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to say, "Our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade. Our inability to pr

event weapons from being illegally smuggled across the border to arm these criminals causes the deaths of police, of soldiers and civilians."

The question is will we ever be able to prevent this from happening? The Drug Library goes on to compare the life of a drug addict in New York where drugs are criminalized and in Liverpool, England where drugs are not criminalized. The difference is shocking.

The United States needs to answer some serious questions about its drug war. We need to decide if it works and if not should we stop it. First, we need to get past all of the rhetoric.

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