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AP reviews evidence of 40 years of failure of the "war on drugs."

By Douglas A. Berman

The AP has this long and effective new piece headlined, "US drug war has met none of its goals."  Here are excerpts: After 40 years, the United States' war on drugs has cost $1 trillion and hundreds of thousands of lives, and for what? Drug use is rampant and violence even more brutal and widespread. Even U.S. drug czar Gil Kerlikowske concedes the strategy hasn't worked. "In the grand scheme, it has not been successful," Kerlikowske told The Associated Press. "Forty years later, the concern about drugs and drug problems is, if anything, magnified, intensified." This week President Obama promised to "reduce drug use and the great damage it causes" with a new national policy that he said treats drug use more as a public health issue and focuses on prevention and treatment...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on May 13, 2010 (boomark / email).