According to a recent preview of his trip in The Washington Post, the president is expected to promise swifter delivery of drug-war aid and increased efforts by the U.S. to stop the flow of American weapons to Mexico. But the best solution to what’s plaguing Mexico right now is the one topic that will almost assuredly be off the table: legalizing marijuana. Marijuana makes up 60 to 70 percent of the Mexican drug trade. Lifting prohibitions on it in the United States would eradicate a major source of funds for the cartels.

Another instance in which the Obama team has moved away from a fresh, realistic consideration of drug policy involves a federal program called the Byrne Grant, which ties federal funding for local police departments directly to drug arrests. During the campaign, both Obama and running mate Joe Biden pushed to revitalize this damaging program, which warps local police’s priorities, encouraging them to jack up arrest statistics by prowling for low-level offenders. In several areas, unaccountable, militaristic multi-jurisdictional drug task forces have wreaked havoc on minority and low-income communities. Byrne Grant task forces were responsible for the wrongful arrest of dozens of black residents of Tulia, Texas, in 1999, as well as a similar calamity a year later in Hearne, Texas (which is the inspiration for the upcoming movie, American Violet).

Then there’s Afghanistan. Obama’s new plan for the country is not only foolish, it may well undermine U.S. national security. The Associated Press reported last month that a major focus of Obama’s plan “will be modeled after the federal Drug Enforcement Administration’s campaign against drug cartels in South America.” The problem is that the federal government’s anti-drug efforts in South America have failed. Despite America spending $6 billion on anti-drug efforts in Colombia since 2000, cocaine production increased 27 percent over that period. The situation on the continent is so bad that the three previous presidents of Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia recently wrote an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal calling for an end to the U.S.-led drug war. Now Obama wants to use the same methods in Afghanistan.

via – The Daily Beast “Obama’s Demented Drug Policy“

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This entry was posted on Saturday, April 18th, 2009 at 9:20 am and is filed under 4:20 NewsHour, Police, World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a trackback from your own site.