ssocia
costs and a much, much smaller increase in
retail prices back home.
it is not possible that spraying makes sense in
these terms. Labeling the above analysis as
harm reduction rather than cost-benefit
stretch to put dollar values on the costs
and benefits of drug policy initiatives.
of programs and laws that we use to
control drug use in the United States
might make a large difference. It might
even force the deeply entrenched drug
enforcement system to collect data and
to provide some analysis to defend pro-
hibition-as-usual. We have no idea, for
example, of the consequences of the
federal government's multibillion dollar
program to interdict drugs in interna-
tional waters. Perhaps it raises prices
enough and captures enough high-level
dealers to meet the criteria set by pro-
ponents. But if it does, it must also lead
to higher export demand for cocaine
from Colombia and that effect ought
to weigh particularly heavily in our de-
cisions. Doing certain harm to other na-
tions for questionable domestic benefits is, at
best, morally problematic.
It would be nice to be able to make a slam-
dunk case for legalizing drugs since so much
of the harm done by drugs is linked to their
legal prohibition. But as long as we lack a
clear sense of the consequences of legaliza-
tion in terms of greater drug use, to my mind,
the case will remain unconvincing.
mental steps in the name of increasing the
bang for a buck spent on drug programs may
be all that can be expected from policymakers,
who will face fierce resistance from interests
whose jobs (or claims to the high moral
ground) are at stake.
sonably be expected to pay particular atten-
tion to policies that lead to the incarceration
of a large percentage of young, poorly edu-
cated African-American males on the basis of
deeply flawed logic. And any president com-
mitted to fighting the rise of narco-states that
threaten global security must acknowledge
that only a shift in policy lowering the value
of illicit drugs at our borders would do much
to undermine their power.