F
27
Second Quarter 2010
tk
For the past three decades, our nation's policies toward illicit
drugs have been a source of despair to most thinking people.
Federal, state and local governments have all been committed
to harsh enforcement of prohibition, and the result has been, at
a minimum, disappointing, and, at
worst, disastrous. The War on Drugs
has left us with the West's most
serious drug problem, as measured
by rates of addiction, violence and
deprivation of civil liberties not
to mention the humongous bill for
police and prisons. Perhaps most dispiriting, it highlights Amer-
ica's shameful willingness to be tough at the expense of poor
urban minorities, while forgiving the lapses of the elite.
Neither political party has shown much inclination to devi-
ate from the path of failure. The difference between the Clinton
administration and the Republican administrations before and
after amounted to rhetorical nuance. President Clinton managed
By Peter Reuter
An Economist's
View of the Least-
Worst Options
Illicit
Drug
Policy