Don't Follow Our Lead! (Ethan Nadelman on Drug Policy)

Ethan Nadelman the Executive Director at the Drug Policy Alliance, takes on John Walters, the U.S drug czar, who is trying to get Canada to follow in our footstepts on the failed War on Drugs. He discusses our persistent consistency in pursuing something that obviously isn't working. Ethan puts things into perspective here...

The U.S. drug czar, John Walters, is in Ottawa today, trying his best to put a positive spin on one of the greatest disasters in U.S. foreign and domestic policy. Part of his agenda is to persuade Canada to follow in U.S. footsteps, which can only happen if Canadians ignore science, compassion, health and human rights.

The United States ranks first in the world in per-capita incarceration, with roughly five per cent of the earth's population but 25 per cent of the total incarcerated population. Russia and China simply can't keep up. Among the 2.2 million people behind bars today in the United States, roughly half a million are locked up for drug-law violations, and hundreds of thousands more for other "drug-related" offences. The U.S. "war on drugs" costs at least $40 billion U.S. a year in direct costs, and tens of billions more in indirect costs.

Read the article here