War on Drugs: New Report Reveals Obscene Wastes of Money and Humanitarian Disasters April M. Short - AlterNet
go to original May 16, 2014

Ending the Drug Wars: Report of the LSE Expert Group on the Economics of Drug Policy, May 2014 (PDF)

The global war on drugs is the cause of some of the biggest public health and social justice disasters of our time, from violent, billion-dollar cartels to mass incarceration targeting communities of color and locking people up for profit. On top of everything, the drug war is shockingly expensive according to a groundbreaking report released May 7 by the London School of Economics.

The report exposes the injustices of the drug war by examining its true costs. Five Nobel Prize economists, as well as national leaders and professors, weighed in, reaching the overall conclusion that policies need to move away from heavy law enforcement to public health and humanitarian-based efforts.

The forward of the report states, “It is time to end the ‘war on drugs’ and massively redirect resources towards effective evidence-based policies underpinned by rigorous economic analysis.”

It also notes, “Continuing to spend vast resources on punitive enforcement-led policies, generally at the expense of proven public health policies, can no longer be justified.”

The report calls for a shift in global drug enforcement strategy. It suggests that new drug policies should be based on harm reduction. It also calls for “expanded access to essential medicines,” and “an unwavering commitment to principles of human rights.”

Read the rest at AlterNet

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