To legalize or not to legalize, that is the question

By David Roberts

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos' proposal, repeated recently, to re-open the age-old debate on the legalization of drugs is a welcome step forward. He's not the first leader in the region to make such a suggestion, with Mexican President Felipe Calderón saying something similar, and former leader Vicente Fox having called in the past for the legalization of marijuana, as have many scientists, celebrities and others.

The drug problem for Latin America cannot be over-estimated. There's the on-going violence and horrific murders in Mexico and ever more so in Central America, with the cartels fighting it out amongst themselves as well as with the authorities, resulting in some of the worst homicide rates in the world. Then there are the effects this is having on the economy and investment climate - devastating for parts of Mexico and Central America, and South America too - and the environment also as more and more forest areas of South America are chopped down to grow coca and other illegal crops (although some coca production remains legal in Bolivia).

To make matters worse, as we've seen in the last couple of decades, when there's a clampdown (often with Washington's help such as in Plan Colombia) the narco-mafias simply move from one area of the continent to another, from Colombia to Mexico, and now more and more from Mexico to Central America. Where next, the Caribbean? It's already happening. Or maybe Brazil?

The present US administration of Barack Obama has moved closer to accepting that the problem is more complex than previous presidents seem to have been willing to do. But the drug issue is a tricky one, with no obvious right or wrong answers. Legalizing for personal use "low risk" drugs may or may not be part of the solution, but Santos has a point in saying that the time has come to at least discuss these issues openly, and without prejudices.

The "blame" cannot just be pinpointed on Latin American narcotics producers and dealers, or on consumers mainly in Europe and North America, or on illegal arms dealers from the US. The fact is, they all have responsibility here. Ultimately, the US has to do more to reduce drug consumption and arms trafficking, and at the same time Latin America has to make more efforts to reduce supply and tackle the drug lords.

It is, after all, a question of supply and demand, and both need to be dealt with. Legalization may appear to be an easy option, which could raise tax revenues and help reduce the violence, but that is unlikely to resolve the issue of drug abuse and the social ills this produces. The example of Portugal is often cited as grounds for legalizing "soft" drugs like marijuana, although the jury is still out on that one. Milton Friedman is famously quoted for saying that from an economic point of view, criminalizing drugs makes no sense. It's difficult to see, however, how legalizing marijuana, ecstasy or other so-called soft drugs would do much to either help or hinder the problems in Latin America, as most of the violence is related to harder drugs. And only the most extreme libertarians are proposing the legalization of all drugs, including heroin and cocaine.

Even so, a good start to the debate would be to stop the mudslinging, such as simply blaming the US for consumption or Latin America for supply, and start assuming responsibilities and adopting a fresh approach to seeking solutions. That seems to be Santos' message.

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