As national leaders from across
the American continent gathered in Colombia´s magnificent colonial port city of
Cartagena for the sixth
Summit of the Americas (pdf, 500kb) on 14-15 April, they knew that one of
the most pressing and controversial hemispheric policy issues was not on the
event´s agenda. But it was also clear to them that precisely that issue - drug
policy - would be among the hottest ´unofficial´ topics, next to Cuba´s full
reintegration into the Inter-American system.
In the end, the summit failed to
produce a final joint declaration, mostly due to divisions between the US and
Canada, on the one hand, and the Latin American camp on the other over Cuba
(which, as on previous occasions, was barred from attending). But the drug policy
discussions that were held in public and behind-the-scenes are important.
Never before did the Americas (or
the world, for that matter) witness such a bold, high-level exchange of viewpoints
on illicit drugs, drug-trafficking and drug-related violence and crime. And never
before did a group of Latin American heads of state challenge the prevailing,
US-backed drug policy orthodoxy with such solid arguments, political acumen and
determination to find alternatives.
President Santos opens space for evidence-based policy on drug trafficking
The summit’s host, Colombian President
Juan Manuel Santos, deserves special credit for this achievement. On several
occasions in the past few months, he stated
publicly that his government was open to considering drug policy
alternatives, highlighting that Colombia is among the world’s countries that
has suffered most from drug-trafficking and the violence, crime and governance erosion
it causes.
Santos avoided framing his
approach through the unhelpful dichotomy of ‘legalization versus prohibition’. Instead,
he opened up new space for evidence-based policy innovation. He also lived up
to his reputation as a political tactician, tabling the issue at the Summit without
putting it on the official agenda.
Other Latin American governments also argue for alternative drug policies
A number of his Latin American counterparts
have followed suit, though without displaying quite the same level of political
skill.
Otto Pérez Molina, a retired intelligence
and military officer who was recently inaugurated as Guatemala’s president, came
out advocating
for global drug market regulation. Felipe Calderón of Mexico argued
that the US has the responsibility to cut demand for illicit drugs and to reduce
the criminal profits of drug-trafficking networks that are wreaking havoc in his
country and neighbouring Central America. Costa Rica’s Laura Chinchilla has
been even more outspoken, going as far as to openly
use the L word (legalization).
No silver bullet for addressing drug trafficking related violence and insecurity
Although the Latin American
leaders’ positions broadly point in the same direction, a clear difference
separate the Mexican and Central American approaches from Colombia´s stance: the
Colombian position is more open-minded and less prone to getting tangled up in
the political-ideological polarization that has characterized drug policy
debate and practice in past decades.
In effect, the ´legalization
versus prohibition´ rhetoric has paralyzed the debate and obstructed positive
policy change.
Colombia is possibly also more
prepared than some of its Latin American counterparts to acknowledge that drug
policy reform is inevitably a highly controversial, difficult and gradual
process and that there are no quick fixes or silver bullets.
An alternative strategy integrates drug with other governance and social policies
However, there is another, even
more interesting angle to Colombia´s new approach to drug policy. Government officials
understand that drug policy reform is paramount in its own right because the
current counter-drug strategies are delivering sub-optimal or outright
disastrous results.
But they also seem to have
grasped that alternative strategies need to be closely linked to other efforts,
including:
- resuscitating the state’s legitimate and effective capacity to respond to the pressures of pervasive crime and violence
- revamping national security and justice apparatuses and their governance
- strengthening accountability and citizen-state relations
- and, not least, generating equitable socioeconomic development (pdf, 8mb)
In short, to achieve a reduction
of the serious political, social and economic problems caused by drugs, drug-trafficking
and drug-related violence, alternative drug policies will need to be accompanied
by other, complementary public policy interventions.
Colombia should lead on alternative drug policies, but it needs support
The Cartagena summit has helped
set in motion a political process that may take us beyond the
legalisation-prohibition divide and open up new space for policy innovation.
After decades of experiencing extreme
hardship related to drugs and violence, Colombia is now poised to emerge as a regional
leader in reshaping drug policy. But to do this successfully the country needs
all the outside support it can get to develop the tools that are needed to
carry out this Herculean task.
It is vital that President Barack
Obama follows up on his statement
in Cartagena, in which he said he wanted to engage in what he termed a ´legitimate
debate´ about drug policy alternatives (other than legalization). His administration
should put all its weight behind the new task group of the Organization of
American States (OAS) which the leaders of the Americas agreed to set up to
explore drug policy alternatives.
Keep an eye on the
Governance and Development blog for more on Global Drug Policy.
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