Latin American leaders and change-makers issued a clear call for a dramatic shift in global drug policy on February 11, when the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy released a groundbreaking report, “Drugs and Democracy: Toward a Paradigm Shift,” at a press conference in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.

Founded by former Presidents Fernando Henrique Cardoso (Brazil), César Gaviria (Colombia) and Ernesto Zedillo (Mexico), the Commission of 17 delegates from nine Latin American nations issued the report drawing from ten years of United Nations research and evaluation of drug enforcement strategies worldwide.

The report opens boldly by pointing to the failure of efforts to date:

“Prohibitionist policies based on the eradication of production and on the disruption of drug flows as well as on the criminalization of consumption have not yielded the expected results. We are farther than ever from the announced goal of eradicating drugs.”

The report makes specific examples of the experiences of Mexico and Colombia, and suggests that their struggles are in direct relationship to the drug policies of the world’s largest consumers of illegal drugs -- the United States and the European Union.

“Mexico has quickly become the other epicenter of the violent activities carried out by the criminal groups associated with the narcotics trade. This raises challenges for the Mexican government in its struggle against the drug cartels that have supplanted the Colombian traffickers as the main suppliers of illicit drugs to the United States market. Mexico is thus well positioned to ask the government and institutions of American society to engage in a dialogue about the policies currently pursued by the U.S. as well as to call upon the countries of the European Union to undertake a greater effort aimed at reducing domestic drug consumption. The traumatic Colombian experience is a useful reference for countries not to make the mistake of adopting the U.S. prohibitionist policies and to move forward in the search for innovative alternatives.”

While the Commission lauds the European Union for its broad favoring of harm reduction strategies over criminalization, it makes a clear call for an increase in efforts to reduce consumption and demand.

“…By not giving appropriate emphasis to the reduction of domestic consumption in the belief that the focus on harm reduction minimizes the social dimension of the problem, the policy of the European Union fails to curb the demand for illicit drugs that stimulates its production and exportation from other parts of the world.”
 
From this standpoint, the Commission calls upon the nations of Latin America and the world to pursue a “paradigm shift” in drug policy: to treat drug use as a matter of public health, reduce drug consumption through education and focus law enforcement efforts on high-level organized crime.

In support of this paradigm shift, the report provides a specific framework by which nations can make a real, positive impact on public health and safety. While not a point of complete departure from drug enforcement, the Commission’s framework utilizes a holistic approach by which countries can honestly examine current practices, involve multiple sectors of society to craft solutions and apply reason in new strategies.

Drug Policy Alliance Executive Director Ethan Nadelmann, who has served as an advisor to the Commission since its inception in 2008, calls the report “a major leap forward in the global drug policy debate,” and commends the members of the Commission speaking out– in spite of strong opposition from the U.S.

“The members of this commission no doubt recognized that such a bold recommendation would be dismissed out of hand by the U.S. and other governments.  But they had the wisdom to insist on ‘breaking the taboo’ that has inhibited vigorous debate and analysis of all drug policy alternatives.”

Nadelmann points to broad regional and global support for a paradigm shift and has high hopes that the report will lead to real reform -- and the Drug Policy Alliance has been working hard to turn that hope into reality.

The Drug Policy Alliance organized the February 11 tele-press conference, transforming the regional event into international news. Dozens of members of the media participated, resulting in hundreds of stories around the world, including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Associated Press, Reuters, Bloomberg and CNN.  You can download a copy of the report here.