As public policies go, America’s so-called War on Drugs was a dismal failure.
Kick-started by Richard Nixon in his first term as U.S. president, the strategy was based on the notion that the path to solving a growing illicit-drug problem in the country started and ended with suppliers. And so began efforts by a string of administrations to discourage dealers with heavy prison terms.
Despite early evidence that the strategy wasn’t working, it was not abandoned. Instead, presidents such as Ronald Reagan doubled down, introducing harsher mandatory sentencing for drug dealers and users of all manner and description. Very quickly, penal institutions filled to overflowing. Kids who were sent to prison for selling a little pot were eventually released back into society as hardened criminals. By some estimates, the country’s drug war cost taxpayers north of $1-trillion.
The approach was all but abandoned under Barack Obama, a man cerebral enough to understand that a different approach was needed. While he was never going to endorse the recommendation of many experts to control the distribution of illicit drugs through legalization and regulation, he was also not going to make any effort to block jurisdictions within the country from doing just that with cannabis. Soon, state after state was legalizing marijuana and reaping the financial rewards that came with regulating its sale.
And then Donald Trump was elected. And the dubious War on Drugs was back on.
We offer this refresher in light of the news this week that 130 countries agreed to sign a Trump-led declaration effectively renewing the war on drugs and its emphasis on confinement. (And 63 did not, including Germany and Spain). To the shock and dismay of many, Canada agreed to be a signatory – yes, the same Canada that has legalized marijuana and will see government-regulated cannabis stores open for business in less than three weeks.
It’s impossible to believe that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, a former pot smoker himself, thinks that a new war on drugs is a good idea. Moreover, to sign a decree co-sponsored by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte makes it all the more bewildering and unseemly. Under orders from the Philippine President, death squads targeting drug dealers and addicts have been responsible for more than 20,000 extrajudicial killings. It’s one way to save on expensive incarceration, I suppose.
So why would Canada go along with this, coming as it did the same week the respected Global Commission on Drug Policy issued a report urging governments to tackle the drug problem through legalization and regulation? Because when you live next door to someone intent on disrupting the world order, realpolitik considerations trump virtually all other imperatives.
Until a new North American free-trade agreement is inked, Mr. Trudeau doesn’t need to give the U.S. President any more reason to become irritated and unreasonable. The fact is, the Prime Minister has factors to weigh that most other countries do not. Is it worth potentially inciting Mr. Trump by refusing to sign a document that is unlikely to have any discernible impact on this country? Or is it more important to take a principled stand, even if the economic fallout at the hands of an erratic political leader could be potentially devastating for Canadians? In the end, Mr. Trudeau decided it was in this country’s best interests to plug his nose and lend his name to a document he likely figures will sit and collect dust.
If we know anything about global calls to action such as this one around drugs, it’s that they are often nothing more than public-relations exercises. World leaders are often great at talking, less so at doing. There may be no document in recent times more important than the 2016 Paris climate accord. And yet, while the planet edges ever closer to a perilous abyss, the real work to meet the climate-pact targets isn’t getting done.
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Mr. Trump can start throwing more pot dealers in jail if he wants, if it makes him feel more powerful, but it will do nothing but exacerbate his country’s growing social problems. What the U.S. President does in his country, will never happen here. Instead, Canada is likely to continue allowing progressive drug treatment programs such as those we see in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside to gain a greater foothold across the country.
Sure, it would have been better if Canada didn’t sign such a wrong-headed, backward-thinking proclamation as the one Mr. Trudeau did this week. But sometimes there is a greater good to be considered.
Kick-started by Richard Nixon in his first term as U.S. president, the strategy was based on the notion that the path to solving a growing illicit-drug problem in the country started and ended with suppliers. And so began efforts by a string of administrations to discourage dealers with heavy prison terms.
Despite early evidence that the strategy wasn’t working, it was not abandoned. Instead, presidents such as Ronald Reagan doubled down, introducing harsher mandatory sentencing for drug dealers and users of all manner and description. Very quickly, penal institutions filled to overflowing. Kids who were sent to prison for selling a little pot were eventually released back into society as hardened criminals. By some estimates, the country’s drug war cost taxpayers north of $1-trillion.
The approach was all but abandoned under Barack Obama, a man cerebral enough to understand that a different approach was needed. While he was never going to endorse the recommendation of many experts to control the distribution of illicit drugs through legalization and regulation, he was also not going to make any effort to block jurisdictions within the country from doing just that with cannabis. Soon, state after state was legalizing marijuana and reaping the financial rewards that came with regulating its sale.
And then Donald Trump was elected. And the dubious War on Drugs was back on.
We offer this refresher in light of the news this week that 130 countries agreed to sign a Trump-led declaration effectively renewing the war on drugs and its emphasis on confinement. (And 63 did not, including Germany and Spain). To the shock and dismay of many, Canada agreed to be a signatory – yes, the same Canada that has legalized marijuana and will see government-regulated cannabis stores open for business in less than three weeks.
It’s impossible to believe that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, a former pot smoker himself, thinks that a new war on drugs is a good idea. Moreover, to sign a decree co-sponsored by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte makes it all the more bewildering and unseemly. Under orders from the Philippine President, death squads targeting drug dealers and addicts have been responsible for more than 20,000 extrajudicial killings. It’s one way to save on expensive incarceration, I suppose.
So why would Canada go along with this, coming as it did the same week the respected Global Commission on Drug Policy issued a report urging governments to tackle the drug problem through legalization and regulation? Because when you live next door to someone intent on disrupting the world order, realpolitik considerations trump virtually all other imperatives.
Until a new North American free-trade agreement is inked, Mr. Trudeau doesn’t need to give the U.S. President any more reason to become irritated and unreasonable. The fact is, the Prime Minister has factors to weigh that most other countries do not. Is it worth potentially inciting Mr. Trump by refusing to sign a document that is unlikely to have any discernible impact on this country? Or is it more important to take a principled stand, even if the economic fallout at the hands of an erratic political leader could be potentially devastating for Canadians? In the end, Mr. Trudeau decided it was in this country’s best interests to plug his nose and lend his name to a document he likely figures will sit and collect dust.
If we know anything about global calls to action such as this one around drugs, it’s that they are often nothing more than public-relations exercises. World leaders are often great at talking, less so at doing. There may be no document in recent times more important than the 2016 Paris climate accord. And yet, while the planet edges ever closer to a perilous abyss, the real work to meet the climate-pact targets isn’t getting done.
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Mr. Trump can start throwing more pot dealers in jail if he wants, if it makes him feel more powerful, but it will do nothing but exacerbate his country’s growing social problems. What the U.S. President does in his country, will never happen here. Instead, Canada is likely to continue allowing progressive drug treatment programs such as those we see in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside to gain a greater foothold across the country.
Sure, it would have been better if Canada didn’t sign such a wrong-headed, backward-thinking proclamation as the one Mr. Trudeau did this week. But sometimes there is a greater good to be considered.
