ADDICTED TO FAILURE

The United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) is meeting in
Vienna this week, seeking a new course for the international war on
drugs. A strategy session was held last week and will continue at
lower levels until the end of this week as envoys try to work out a
document that would replace a 10-year program adopted in 1988 aiming
at eradicating all illegal drugs, from marijuana to heroin, under the
slogan "A Drug-Free World -- We Can Do It."

Apparently not, at least not the UN way. The campaign was a
resounding failure when it wound up in 2008. There has been no
overall decline in the worldwide use of illegal drugs and the
industry has grown into a $300-billion business, equivalent to the
narco lords being the 21st-largest economy in the world if they
constituted one nation.

The CND's response to this failure seems to be to continue the
increasingly discredited war on drugs rather than looking at ways to
eliminate criminals from the trade, control the drugs and alleviate
the suffering of drug users. The idea of using more of what doesn't
work is a common UN solution to difficult problems, but it is meeting
now with increasing opposition. The European Commission ushered in
the Vienna conference with a critical report arguing that CND's
accomplishments are all negative. It has driven dealers into safe
havens, created lawless and unstable states, resulted in the spread
of needle-related diseases around the world, including North American
cities, and has had no effect on curbing drug sales or use.

The EU is joined in this by Latin American nations, including Mexico,
which saw 8,000 drug-related murders last year and is in danger of
collapsing into a narco state that will feed the U.S. and Canadian
markets. Already, the influence of Mexican drug cartels can be seen
in gang violence in Vancouver.

It is clear from the opening days of the meeting that the UN cannot
be counted on to take the logical path, the only effective way to win
the drug war, by legalizing and regulating the use and sale of drugs
such as marijuana and cocaine. It will not do it for this 10-year
go-round because of intense opposition from the United States, Russia and China

Instead, it will try to find some kind of harm-reduction program such
as Vancouver's needle exchange and safe sites. But even that seems
unlikely when nations such as Canada are conflicted about the very
value of reducing harm to drug users. Without an unlikely change of
heart in Vienna by nations such as Canada on this issue, the program
can only inflict more misery and disease on drug users and give more
wealth and power to drug dealers.