How Bolivia dealt a blow to the 'war on drugs'
While Charles Clarke backtracks on the pitifully, pathetically moderate downgrading of cannabis introduced two years ago to stop the squandering of police time, the ‘War on Drugs’ is collapsing across the world. The Bolivian people have just elected a left-wing President, Alberto Morales, who will legalise the production of coca leaves, an essential ingredient in manufacturing cocaine.
This is crucial because it is the first time a member of the United Nations has refused to abide by the US-led, US-enforced programme of global prohibition. Bolivians – like more and more people across the world – can see that the idea of eradicating all drugs from the face of the earth is preposterous. The only beneficiaries are massive criminal syndicates, who have been handed a $100bn-a-year industry on a shiny cocaine platter.
What will be the next country to refuse to participate in this failing, flailing war? If Hamid Karzai was really in charge of Afghanistan, surely he would join Morales: 70 percent of his country’s GDP comes from its opium crops. British troops are – right now – destroying the crops of peasant farmers in that starvation-poor country. Isn’t it more sensible to follow the path of Bolivia – legalisation and regulation – than to carry on shooting at peasants who are trying desperately to make a living?
