Failing war on drugs saves no one - Time to legalise some drugs?

THERE have been few if any international security operations that have failed as spectacularly as the endless war on drugs. The major drug cartels operate with something approaching impunity and wreak havoc in the societies they target despite years of concerted international effort.

For many of those years the received wisdom was that around 10% of drugs smuggled into a country were seized by authorities but a UN report has found that figure far too optimistic and suggested that, in Ireland’s case, the figure is closer to 3%. This finding stands in sharp contrast to the position persistently advanced by senior gardaí who have, for many years, insisted that the 10% figure was a gross underestimation of their unsubstantiated strike rate.

The death toll generated by this failing war on drugs is shocking. The Mexican government has reported that between 2007 and 2014 more than 164,000 Mexicans were victims of drug-related homicide. Nearly 20,000 died last year, a substantial number, but still a decrease from the 27,000 killed at the peak of fighting in 2011. These figures do not include those who died because they used narcotics. Mexico’s very stability is threatened by this carnage.