INDIA’S INTERNATIONAL MOVEMENT TO UNITE NATIONS

STUDY GUIDE

COMMITTEE: SPECIAL SESSION OF CENTRAL DRUGS

STANDARD CONTROL ORGANIZATION

AGENDA: DRUG WAR WITH EMPHASIS ON DRUG USERS

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 INTRODUCTION

Since 2006 the Mexican government has been locked in a violent battle with its drug traffickers. Shortly
after his election in 2006, President Felipe Calderón moved his troops into areas of Mexico long
controlled by criminals, the members of what are usually referred to as drug cartels. The criminals behind
the cartels are drug traffickers. Originally they worked with drug suppliers from Colombia, moving their
product through Mexico and across the border into the United States, with some of it eventually making
its way into Canada. Beginning in the 1990s, two major cartels, one on the east coast and one on the west,
controlled much of this business. Thanks to a combination of threats and bribery, local police and
officials mostly overlooked the drug trade. Initially, Calderón’s campaign had positive results. Several
drug lords were captured and jailed, and millions of dollars’ worth of drugs was seized.

The general public was enthusiastic about the action. The military, seen as the one uncorrupted authority
in the nation, were national heroes. By 2012, however, the campaign has resulted in some unpleasant
consequences. The number of cartels has actually mushroomed as the victories over the original ones
created opportunities for new criminals groups to fill the vacuum. Turf wars among the cartels have
increased both in frequency and level of violence. The cartels have expanded their activities to include
crimes like kidnapping, extortion, and human smuggling. They have maintained their influence over the
areas in which they operate, and now regularly use murder as their principal means of intimidation.
Where they are powerful, no one—police, mayors, or even state governors—is safe. And the army has
seen its public reputation badly tarnished by a long series of human rights abuses. In just a few months
Mexico will elect a new president.

The election is seen by many as a referendum on the drug war—a war that so far has claimed about 50
000 lives. Three months before the July 1, 2012, election, the ruling party is trailing the opposition in the
polls. The drug war is at a crossroads; how it will be conducted after July 1 is unclear. What is certain,
however, is that this is a war with no winners—and with Mexico as the loser.

War on Drugs:

The War on Drugs is a campaign, led by the U.S. federal government, of drug prohibition, military aid,
and military intervention, with the stated aim being to reduce the illegal drug trade in the United States.
The initiative includes a set of drug policies that are intended to discourage the production, distribution,
and consumption of psychoactive drugs that the participating governments and the UN have made illegal.
The term was popularized by the media shortly after a press conference given on June 18, 1971, by
President Richard Nixon the day after the publication of a special message from President Nixon to the
Congress on Drug Abuse Prevention and Control during which he declared drug abuse "public enemy
number one".

That message to the Congress included text about devoting more federal resources to the "prevention of
new addicts, and the rehabilitation of those who are addicted", but that part did not receive the same
public attention as the term "war on drugs". However, two years prior to this, Nixon had formally
declared a "war on drugs" that would be directed toward eradication, interdiction, and incarceration.
Today, the Drug Policy Alliance, which advocates for an end to the War on Drugs, estimates that the
United States spends $51 billion annually on these initiatives.

On May 13, 2009, Gil Kerlikowske the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP)
signaled that the Obama administration did not plan to significantly alter drug enforcement policy, but
also that the administration would not use the term "War on Drugs", because Kerlikowske considers the
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term to be "counterproductive.'' ​ONDCP's view is that "drug addiction is a disease that can be successfully
prevented and treated... making drugs more available will make it harder to keep our communities healthy
and safe.

In June 2011, the Global Commission on Drug Policy released a critical report on the War on Drugs,
declaring: "The global war on drugs has failed, with devastating consequences for individuals and
societies around the world. Fifty years after the initiation of the UN Single Convention on Narcotic
Drugs, and years after President Nixon launched the US government's war on drugs, fundamental reforms
in national and global drug control policies are urgently needed." ​The report was criticized by
organizations that oppose a general legalization of drugs.

Drug Policy Alliance:

The Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) is a New York City-based non-profit organization, led by executive
director Maria McFarland Sánchez-Moreno and funded in part by George Soros, with the principal goal
of ending the American "War on Drugs". The stated priorities of the organization are the
decriminalization of responsible drug use, the promotion of harm reduction and treatment in response to
drug misuse, and the facilitation of open dialog about drugs between youth, parents, and educators.

The Drug Policy Alliance was formed when the Drug Policy Foundation and the Lindesmith Center
merged in July 2000. Lindesmith Center founder Ethan Nadelmann served as its first Executive Director.

The organization has offices in five states as well as a national affairs office in Washington, D.C., which
lobbies for federal reform. Administrative and media headquarters are located in New York City, NY.
The office for legal affairs is located in Oakland, CA, with two additional state offices in San Francisco
and Los Angeles. The remaining three state offices are located in Trenton, NJ, Santa Fe, NM, and Denver,
CO.

Veteran journalist Walter Cronkite spoke out against the War on Drugs in support of the Drug Policy
Alliance. He appeared in advertisements on behalf of the organization and wrote a fundraising letter,
which was also published in the Huffington Post. In the letter, Cronkite wrote: "Today, our nation is
fighting two wars: one abroad and one at home. While the war in Iraq is in the headlines, the other war is
still being fought on our own streets. Its casualties are the wasted lives of our own citizens. I am speaking
of the war on drugs. And I cannot help but wonder how many more lives, and how much more money
will be wasted before another Robert McNamara admits what is plain for all to see: the war on drugs is a
failure."

Importance of Drug Abuse Research:

The widespread prevalence of illicit drug use in the United States is well documented in surveys of
households, students, and prison and jail inmates. Based on the National Household Survey on Drug
Abuse (NHSDA), an annual survey presently sponsored by SAMHSA, it was estimated that in 1994, 12.6
million people had used illicit drugs (primarily marijuana) in the past month. That figure represents 6
percent of the population 12 years of age or older. The number of heavy drug users, using drugs at least
once a week, is difficult to determine. It has been estimated that in 1993 there were 2.1 million heavy
cocaine users and 444,000-600,000 heavy heroin users. This population represents a significant burden to
society, not only in terms of federal expenditures but also in terms of costs related to the multiple
consequences of drug abuse.

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The ultimate aim of the nation's investment in drug abuse research is to enable society to take effective
measures to prevent drug use, abuse, and dependence, and thereby reduce its adverse individual and
social consequences and associated costs. The adverse consequences of drug abuse are numerous and
profound and affect the individual's physical health and psychological and social functioning.
Consequences of drug abuse include increased rates of HIV infection and tuberculosis (TB); education
and vocational impairment; developmental harms to children of drug-using parents associated with fetal
exposure or maltreatment and neglect; and increased violence. It now appears that injection drug use is
the leading risk factor for new HIV infection in the United States. Most (80 percent) HIV-infected
heterosexual men and women who do not use injection drugs have been infected through sexual contact
with HIV-infected injection drug users (IUDs). Thus, it is not surprising that the geographic distribution
of heterosexual AIDS cases has been essentially the same as the distribution of male injection drug users'
AIDS cases. Further, the IUDs-associated HIV epidemic in men is reflected in the heterosexual epidemic
in women, which is reflected in HIV infection in children. Nearly all children who acquire HIV infection
do so prenatal.

The extent of the impact of drug use and abuse on society is evidenced by its enormous economic burden.
In 1990, illicit drug abuse is estimated to have cost the United States more than $66 billion. When the
cost of illicit drug use and abuse is tallied with that of alcohol and nicotine, the collective cost of drug use
and abuse exceeds the estimated annual $117 billion cost of heart disease and the estimated annual $104
billion cost of cancer.
As noted above, the federal government accounts for a large segment of the societal expenditure on illicit
drug abuse control spending more than $13.3 billion in FY 1995. About two-thirds was devoted to
interdiction, intelligence, incarceration, and other law enforcement activities. Research, however,
accounts for only 4 percent of federal outlays, a percentage that has remained virtually unchanged since
1981. Given the social costs of illicit drug abuse and the enormity of the federal investment in prevention
and control, research into the causes, consequences, treatment, and prevention of drug abuse should have
a higher priority. Enhanced support for drug abuse research would be a socially sound investment,
because scientific research can be expected to generate new and improved treatments, as well as
prevention and control strategies that can help reduce the enormous social burden associated with drug
abuse.

HISTORY

Timeline: America's War on Drugs:

Four decades ago, the U.S. government declared a "war on drugs." From the rise and fall of kingpins to
current efforts to interdict and stamp out drugs, follow events so far:

1930: ​The use of cannabis and other drugs comes under increasing scrutiny after the formation of the
Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN) in 1930, headed by Harry J. Anslinger as part of the government's
broader push to outlaw all recreational drugs. Anslinger claims cannabis causes people to commit violent
crimes, act irrationally and become overly sexualized. The FBN produces propaganda films and posters
promoting Anslinger's views and Anslinger often comments to the press regarding his views on
marijuana.

1937: Marijuana Tax Act was passed. On the surface merely a nominal tax on any possession or
transaction of marijuana, the Act’s draconian enforcement provisions, combined with the stringent legal

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requirements involved in obtaining a tax stamp, make it a ​de facto criminalization that effectively outlaws
not only recreational but also medical uses of marijuana.

1937: Millionaire newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst throws his weight behind the passage of
the Marijuana Tax Act. Hearst was highly invested in the paper industry, and it has been suggested that he
was threatened by the potential of industrial hemp as a cheap alternative to wood pulp in paper
production.

1938-1939: Mexican President Lázaro Cárdenas, attempts to place production of narcotics under state
control. The U.S. reacts with an embargo against all medicinal products coming from Mexico. Under this
threat, the Mexican state instead simply allows the industry to exist with covert help from the army,
police, politicians, and regional governments.

1939-1945: ​World War II blocks Turkish and European imports of opium, marijuana and heroin (needed
for the production of morphine). Mexico’s production of poppy and hemp increases.

1959: Stepan Company is the only company in the world approved by the U.S. to legally import cocaine,
bringing around 100 trillion tons of dried coca leaves from Peru annually. Cocaine is extracted and sold to
Mallinckrodt, a pharmaceutical company; leaves are sold to the Coca Cola Company.

Late 1960s:​ Recreational drug use rises in the U.S.

1968:​ Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs is founded.

1969: Psychiatrist Dr. Robert DuPont conducts urinalysis of everyone entering the D.C. jail system in
August of 1969. He finds 44% test positive for heroin. DuPont convinces the city's mayor Walter
Washington, to allow him to provide methadone to heroin addicts.

In an attempt to reduce marijuana smuggling from Mexico, the Customs Dept., under Commissioner
Myles Ambrose, subjects every vehicle crossing the Mexican border to a three-minute inspection. The
operation lasts two weeks and wreaks economic havoc on both sides of the border. The U.S. Bureau of
the Budget reports that marijuana offers “individual farmers up to 40 times the income that any legitimate
crop might provide”.

1970: The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) is founded by Keith
Stroup. The group lobbies for decriminalization of marijuana.

1970, October 27: Congress passed the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act. This
law consolidates previous drug laws and reduces penalties for marijuana possession. It also strengthens
law enforcement by allowing police to conduct “no-knock” searches.

1971:​ Soldiers in Vietnam develop heroin addiction.

1971, June 18: President Richard Nixon considers drug abuse “public enemy number one” and coins the
term “War on Drugs”. The Drug Policy Alliance estimates that the United States spends $51 billion
annually on the War on Drugs. During the Nixon era, for the only time in the history of the War on
Drugs, the majority of funding goes towards treatment, rather than law enforcement.

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1971: According to journalist Diego Osorno, a report from the Departamento de Investigaciones Políticas
y Sociales dated June 30, 1971, under the guise of combating drug trafficking and with the help of U.S.,
Mexican President Luis Echeverría dispatches 12,000 troops to Guerrero in order to suppress a popular
guerrilla which demanded changes to the socio-economic order of the campesinos.

1971, September: Operation Golden Flow goes into effect in order to attack heroin habits of U.S.’s
Vietnam War Veterans by forcing them to begin urinalysis. They had test negative or undergo detox for a
week before they could go home.

1972:​ The Office of Drug Abuse Law Enforcement is founded in the U.S.

1972:​ The French Connection–a heroin smuggling ring between France and the U.S.—is broken up.

1973:​ The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is established.

1974, August 9:​ President Nixon resigns. President Gerald Ford steps in.

1975: Ford administration releases White Paper on Drug Abuse which names marijuana a “low priority
drug” in contrast to heroin, amphetamines, and mixed barbiturates.

1975, November 22: Colombian police seize 600 kilos of cocaine from a small plane at the Cali
airport—the largest cocaine seizure to date. In response, drug traffickers begin a vendetta—“Medellin
Massacre.” 40 people die in Medellin in one weekend.

1975: Operation Condor starts. The U.S. provides weapons, manpower, CIA and FBI resources and
national embassies in order to capture, kill, and disappear opponents of capitalism in Uruguay, Peru,
Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Bolivia, Paraguay, Colombia, and Venezuela. This continued with
Ronald Reagan in 1981 under the guise that it was an operation against drug lords. It is estimated that
60,000 people were murdered.

1976:​ Jimmy Carter campaigns on the decriminalization of marijuana.

1976, August: Anti-drug parents' movement in the U.S. begins after having found marijuana in a
13-year-old’s birthday party. Support for criminalization increases.

1977: ​ U.S. media glamorizes cocaine use.

From 1973 to 1977, eleven states decriminalized possession of marijuana.

1978: ​The Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act is amended. It now allows law
enforcement to seize all money and/or “other things of value furnished or intended to be furnished by any
person in exchange for a controlled substance [and] all proceeds traceable to such an exchange.”

1979: Carlos Lehder purchases property on Norman’s Cay in the Bahamas. It would serve as a safe place
for planes to refuel between Colombia and the U.S.

1979, July 11: In Miami, the first drug related fatal shootout takes place in broad daylight. Two gunmen
exit a party truck, enter the Dadeland Mall and shoot a Colombian trafficker and his bodyguard, injuring a
store clerk and a stock boy in the process.

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1981-1982: ​Rise of the Medellin Cartel.

1981: The U.S. and Colombia ratify a bilateral extradition treaty, which they had previously approved in
1979. Ronald Reagan assumes office and prioritizes the War on Drugs. First Lady Nancy Reagan starts
“Just Say No” Campaign, this marks the beginning of zero-tolerance policies throughout the United
States

1982: In response to U.S. pressure, the Bahamian government begins to crack down on Carlos Lehder's
operation on Norman's Cay.

1982: A deal between Colombian drug trafficker Pablo Escobar and Panamanian President, Manuel
Noriega, allows cocaine transport through Panama.

1982: ​South Florida Drug Task Force is formed.

1982, March:​ Pablo Escobar is elected to the Colombian Congress.

1982, March 9: After the seizure of 3,906 pounds of cocaine, valued at over $100 million wholesale,
from a Miami International Airport hangar the U.S. law enforcement approach realizes drug traffickers
are working together in a “cartel”.

1982: Mexico re-negotiates the external debt with the International Monetary Fund which requires all
public industry to be privatized, remove subsidies, shrink and eliminate import taxes, and increase foreign
investment, as well as freeze salaries, cut public spending, and devalue the Mexican peso.

1984, March 10: By tracking the illegal sale of massive amounts of ether to Colombia, the DEA and
Colombian police discover Tranquilandia, a massive laboratory operation, with land strips and luxury
villas, deep in the Colombian jungle.

1984, April 30: Assassination of the Colombian Minister of Justice Rodrigo Lara Bonilla fuels the
extradition controversy.

1984, November 6: The DEA and Mexican officials raid a large marijuana cultivation and processing
complex in the Chihuahua desert owned by kingpin Rafael Caro Quintero. 7,000 campesinos work at the
complex, where between 5,000-10,000 tons of high-grade marijuana worth $2.5 billion are found and
destroyed. ​Time magazine calls this “the bust of the century” and it reveals the existence of Mexico's
sophisticated marijuana smuggling industry. Caro Quintero will be arrested in 1985 and liberated by the
current Mexican President’s administration on August 9, 2013. The U.S. demands he be imprisoned
again, and a warrant for his arrest is issued on August 14, 2013. He flees.

1984, November 15: ​Jorge Ochoa, a member of the Medellin Cartel, is arrested in Spain.

1984, January 5: For the first time, Colombia extradites four drug traffickers to Miami. Within days, the
U.S. becomes aware of a Medellin Cartel “hit list” which includes embassy members, their families, U.S.
businessmen, and journalists.

1984: ​Cocaine transport routes begin to move into Mexico. Because of the South Florida Drug Task
Force's successful crackdown on drugs, traffickers turn to Mexican marijuana smugglers to move cocaine

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across the 2,000 mile U.S.-Mexican border. By the mid-1980s it becomes the major transportation route
for cocaine into the U.S.

1984, February:​ DEA agent Enrique Camarena is kidnapped and murdered in Mexico.

1984, July 23: Bogota’s Superior Court Judge Tulio Manuel Castro Gil, who had indicted Escobar, is
assassinated as he climbs into a taxi.

1984, November 6: The M-19 guerrilla attacks the Colombian Palace of Justice. Colombian President
Betancourt decides not to negotiate. Police and Military forces react violently, surrounding the palace and
opening fire. At least 95 people were killed in the 27-hour siege, including 11 Supreme Court justices.
Many court documents, including all pending extradition requests, are destroyed by fire.

1984: ​Crack, a potent form of smokeable cocaine developed in the early 1980s, begins to flourish in the
New York region.

1986, June 19: The death of promising college basketball star Len Bias from a cocaine overdose stuns
the nation.

1986, October 27: President Ronald Reagan signs The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, which appropriates
$1.7 billion to fight the drug crisis and includes the creation of mandatory minimum penalties for first
time drug traffickers. The offense involving five kilograms of cocaine requires a mandatory minimum of
ten years of jail time; but the offense involving of just five grams of crack leads to a mandatory minimum
of five years in prison.

1986, November 18:​ The U.S. indicts the Medellin Cartel leaders.

1986, December 17: ​Murder of Guillermo Cano Isaza, editor-in-chief of daily ​El Espectador outrages
Colombian press.

1987, February 3: Carlos Lehder, member of the Medellin Cartel, is captured and extradited to U.S. On
May 19, 1988, Lehder is convicted of drug smuggling and sentenced to life in prison without parole, plus
an additional 135 years.

1988, June 25:​ Colombia annuls extradition treaty.

1988, November 21: Jorge Ochoa, member of the Medellin Cartel, is arrested in Colombia. Twenty-four
hours later, Juan Gomez Martinez, the editor of Medellin's daily ​El Colombiano is presented with a letter
signed by “The Extraditables.” They threaten to execute Colombian political leaders if Ochoa is
extradited to U.S. On December 30, Ochoa is released.

1988, July 2: On the eve of the Mexican presidential election between ruling party, Carlos Salinas de
Gortari, and left-wing candidate, Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, two key Cárdenas aides are found shot to death
in Mexico City. The two had been responsible for ensuring that the elections would be clean and fair. It is
widely believed that Cárdenas actually won the election and that vote fraud by the Institutional
Revolutionary Party (PRI), the ruling party, was responsible for Salinas' victory.

1988: During the vote count, the government claims that the computers crashed, characterizing it as “a
breakdown of the system”. It is stated that Salinas de Gortari won with 50.7% of the votes, the lowest

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winning majority since direct elections were introduced in 1917. Years later, former president Miguel de
la Madrid admits to the ​New York Times and in an autobiography that the presidential elections had been
rigged to make PRI win, and that three years after the election, all ballots were burnt in order to remove
all evidence of the fraud.

1988: At a meeting, President-elect Bush tells President-elect Salinas he must prove to the U.S. Congress
that he is cooperating in the drug war a process called certification. The U.S. pressures Mexico to arrest
Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, the drug lord believed to have been responsible for the murder of DEA
Agent Enrique Camarena.

1988: Mexico starts the second phase of its Economic State Reform. It involves deregulation of the
financial sector, privatization of national industry, particularly railways, ports, highways, and
communications. Banks are privatized and ​campesinos lose the right to claim lands or keep communal
land. These changes especially affect small producers and spur growth in the informal sector. “We know
that around 60% of the labour force or ‘economically active population’ is located in the informal sector”.

1988, February 5:​ Panama’s President, Manuel Noriega, is indicted in U.S

1988: Office​ of National Drug Control Policy is created.

1989, April 8: Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo is arrested in Mexico. His nephews, the Arellano-Félix
brothers inherit part of his drug-trafficking empire.

1989, April 14: The Kerry Commission, headed by John Kerry, releases congressional report on
Contra-drug connection. The Contras were revolutionary commandos opposing the government in
Nicaragua. It concludes that the Reagan administration ignored evidence of drug trafficking, human rights
violations, and more than 1,300 terrorist attacks by the Contras and continued to provide them with aid.

1989, August 18: ​Colombian Luis Carlos Galán, presidential candidate, is assassinated at a campaign
rally. That evening, President Virgilio Barco Vargas issues an emergency decree reestablishing the policy
of extradition. In response, the ‘Extraditables’ declare all-out war against the Colombian government, and
begin a bombing/murder campaign that would last until January 1991.

1989, December 20: The U.S. invades Panama in order to capture the Panamanian President, Noriega.
The invasion was named Operation Just Cause.

1990, January 25: Bush proposes adding an additional $1.2 billion to the budget for the War on Drugs,
including a 50% increase in military spending.

1991, January: ​All three Ochoa brothers, members of the Medellin Cartel, surrender to the Colombian
police.

1991, June 19: ​New Colombian constitution bans extradition and that same day Pablo Escobar
surrenders.

1991, November: ​While attempting to stop an air shipment of Colombian cocaine, Mexican Federal
Police are killed by Mexican army members under payroll of the traffickers.

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1991: ​Disregarding sovereignty, Mexican President Carlos Salinas allows DEA officers to conduct
investigations on Mexican soil, although the regulations limit the number of agents in Mexico, designate
certain cities in which they must live, deny the officers diplomatic immunity, require all information
collected to be turned over to Mexican authorities, and prohibit agents to carry weapons.

1993, May 24: ​Cardinal Juan Posadas Ocampo, the archbishop of Guadalajara, is assassinated at the
Guadalajara airport.

1993, November 17: The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between Mexico, U.S., and
Canada is passed and signed into law.

1993: ​The North American Free Trade Agreement, results in an enormous increase in legitimate trade
across the U.S.-Mexico border. However, “neoliberalism had the effect of putting ever more small
agriculturalists out of business while the burgeoning market for marijuana and poppies provided
practically their only viable alternative to bankruptcy and flight from the land”.

1993, December 2:​ Pablo Escobar was killed by the Colombian police with the help of the U.S.

1995, May: The U.S. Sentencing Commission, which administers federal sentencing guidelines, releases
a report which notes the racial disparities in cocaine vs. crack sentencing. The commission proposes
reducing the discrepancy, but for the first time in history, Congress overrides their recommendation.

1995, Summer: Top Cali Cartel members arrested. The TV series El Cartel de los Sapos is based on the
experiences of a former drug dealer who worked with the Cali Cartel first aired on June 4, 2008.

1996, July: The former members of the Medellin Cartel, Juan David and Jorge Luis Ochoa, are released
after serving a five-year prison sentence for drug trafficking. Later, their younger brother Fabio Ochoa is
also released.

1997, September 24: A federal grand jury in San Diego indicts Ramón Arellano-Félix on charges of drug
smuggling. The same day, he is added to the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted List. Incarceration rates in the U.S.
for drug offenses goes up almost 69%, from 50,000 in 1980 to 400,000 to 1997.

1998, May: Operation Casablanca, the largest money-laundering probe in U.S. history, leads to the
indictment of three Mexican and four Venezuelan banks, and 167 individual arrests. Mexico and
Venezuela are furious over the undercover operation, which they consider a threat to their national
sovereignty.

1998, July: ​As a result of Mexico's anger about U.S. actions in Operation Casablanca, Attorneys General
Janet Reno and Jorge Madrazo Cuellar draft the Brownsville Agreement. Both nations pledge to inform
each other about sensitive cross-border law enforcement operations.

2000, May 11: The Arellano-Félix brothers are charged with ten counts of drug trafficking, conspiracy,
money laundering and aiding and abetting violent crimes. The U.S. State Department offers a $2 million
reward for information leading to their arrest and conviction.

2000, August: President Clinton delivers $1.3 billion in U.S. aid to fund 60 combat helicopters and
training for the Colombian military to fight the War on Drugs, among other initiatives.

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The War on Drugs in Mexico (2006-September-2015):

2006, September 7: The Familia Michoacana, an organized crime syndicate, throws five human heads
onto the dance floor of a discotheque in Uruapan, Michoacán.

2006, November 25:​ Valentín Elizalde, a popular narco-corrido singer, is gunned down in an ambush.

2006, December 1: President Felipe Calderón, member of the right-wing National Action Party (PAN),
assumes office amidst a controversial post-electoral process. Public opinion is divided regarding
Calderón’s legitimacy, given that he only obtained a 0.58% margin of victory over the left-wing candidate
Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

2006, December 11: The Mexican government launches Operation Michoacán against the Familia
Michoacana, a joint effort involving the Secretariats of Defense, Navy and Public Security and the
Attorney General’s Office even though the military was not constitutionally authorized to intervene.
2006, December: ​Mexico becomes the second country in the Americas after Colombia to militarize the
drug war.

2007, January 2: The Mexican government launches Operation Baja California to fight the Tijuana
Cartel without any short term results.

2007, March 23: ​In a Maryland suburb the DEA arrests Zhenli Ye Gon, a trafficker of pseudoephedrine
from Asia to Mexico. Earlier that month the Mexican police had found $205 million in U.S. dollars and
millions more in currencies from other countries in Ye Gon’s residence in Mexico City. Ye Gon claims
that Mexican authorities attempted to extort him to use this money for the PAN’s electoral campaigns,
threatening him with the phrase: “either you cooperate with us or you are dead”.

2007, October 22: The U.S. and Mexico jointly announced the Merida Initiative, a multi-year security
cooperation agreement through which the U.S. government will provide financial assistance, equipment,
training, and intelligence to Mexico and Central American countries to help them fight drug trafficking,
transnational organized crime, and money laundering. The U.S. will give Mexico $400 million and
Central American countries $65 million that year.

2008, January: ​The Mexican government launches the joint Operation Nuevo León-Tamaulipas in order
to combat the Gulf Cartel and the Zetas Cartel the latter is considered the most dangerous cartel, founded
by former high-ranking officers of the Mexican army’s elite troops. The operation captures drug lord
Arturo Beltrán Leyva of the Beltrán Leyva Cartel.

2008, March 27: ​The Mexican government launches the joint Operation Chihuahua to confront the
Juárez Cartel and other criminal syndicates operating in the state.

2008, September 17: ​Operation Solare, a major transnational anti-drug trafficking operation across
Mexico, Guatemala, Italy, and the United States, leads to the capture of over 200 suspects.

2008, October 26. The Mexican army captures Eduardo Arellano Félix, leader of the Tijuana Cartel, after
a shootout in Tijuana, Baja California.

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2008, November 7: ​The Federal Police arrests Jaime González Durán in Reynosa, Tamaulipas. He was a
founding member of Los Zetas, founded by former high-ranking officers of the Mexican army’s elite
troops.

2008, November 30: ​A clash between Guatemalan and Mexican drug cartels in the border zone leaves 18
people dead.

2009, January 22: Federal Police arrests Santiago Meza López a hit man for the Tijuana Cartel who
claimed to have dissolved over 300 bodies in acid since the year 2000.

2009, February 17: A shootout in the city of Reynosa between the Mexican Army and members of the
Gulf Cartel and the Zetas Cartel leads to the death of at least twelve people, among them the high-ranking
Gulf Cartel leader Héctor Manuel Sauceda Gamboa. This was one of the events that will provoke the split
between the Gulf Cartel and its paramilitary army, the Zetas in 2010.

2009, February 24: ​The DEA conducts Operation Xcellerator against Sinaloa Cartel drug traffickers. A
total of 755 suspects were arrested across California, Minnesota, and Maryland, and a couple of
laboratories of illegal drugs are dismantled.

2009, February 25: ​The New York Times reports that according to the statistics of the Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), 90% of traced guns used by Mexican drug cartels
originated in the United States.

2009, March 19: ​The Mexican military captures drug boss Vicente Zambada Niebla, son of Ismael
Zambada, leader of the Sinaloa Cartel. Zambada Niebla is extradited to the United States in 2010 and
becomes an informant for the DEA in exchange for immunity.

2009, May 27: Mexican authorities arrest 27 high-ranking officials suspected of collaborating with the
Familia Michoacana, including eleven city mayors, fourteen civil servants, a judge, and an aide of the
governor of Michoacán, in an episode known as the “michoacanazo”.

2009, July 7: Gunmen torture and murder Benjamin LeBaron along with his brother-in-law Luis Widmar
at their house in Galeana, Chihuahua. Le Baron, a Mexican-American citizen, was an anti-crime activist
and community leader.

2009, July 14: ​The Familia Michoacana kidnaps, tortures, and kills twelve Mexican Federal policemen in
Michoacán in response to the detention of its leader, Arnoldo Rueda Medina, on July 11. During the
investigation of these killings, Julio César Godoy, a representative of the Lower House in Congress and
brother of the governor of Michoacán, proves to be a top-ranking member of the Familia Michoacana.

2009, September 3: Juarez Cartel hitmen attack a drug rehabilitation center in Ciudad Juarez killing at
least seventeen patients. Thirteen days later the gunmen attack another center and murder another ten
people.

2009, December 22: During an operation against Arturo Beltrán Leyva, 3rd Petty Officer Melquisedet
Angulo Córdova of the Navy Special Forces is killed in action. Hours after his funeral, gunmen break into
Córdova’s family house, killing four of his closest relatives.

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2010, January: ​Federal Police arrests Carlos Beltrán Leyva, drug lord of the Beltrán Leyva Cartel, in
Culiacán, Sinaloa, and Teodoro García Simental, kingpin of the Tijuana Cartel in La Paz, Baja California
Sur.

2010, January 31: Gunmen storm into a birthday party in Villas Salvárcar, Ciudad Juárez, killing sixteen
teenagers and injuring twelve more. None of the teens had criminal ties. As a result of the public outcry,
the Mexican government starts the program “We are all Juárez” aiming to reduce the homicide rate.

2010, March 19: Soldiers kill two graduate students from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and
Higher Education (ITESM) in Monterrey, Nuevo León, during a gun battle against drug traffickers. The
military alters the scene in an attempt to frame the grad students and smashes the security camera that
recorded the event.

2010, May 31: ​Authorities remove 55 bodies from a mass grave in an abandoned mine near Taxco,
Guerrero. It still isn’t known who the victims were, who killed them or when they were buried, but few
doubts that the dead were casualties of the drug related battles that have plagued the country.

2010, July 25: ​Mexican police exhume more than 70 bodies from clandestine mass graves in the
metropolitan area of Monterrey, Nuevo León. Most of the victims were shot dead, while others showed
signs of torture.

2010, August 24: In San Fernando, Tamaulipas, an armed confrontation between the Mexican army and
members of the Zetas results in four dead and the discovery of the bodies of 72 immigrants inside a ranch.
After more investigation, the final body count reaches 193, although some sources suggest that the
government censored the actual data.

2010, November 5: As a result of a gun battle between Mexican security forces and the Gulf Cartel in the
border city of Matamoros, Tamaulipas, more than 100 people die, among them the co-leader of the Gulf
Cartel, Antonio Ezequiel Cárdenas Guillén.

2010, November 22: On the rural outskirts of Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, 77-year-old local
entrepreneur Alejo Garza Támez fights the Zetas, whom had demanded that he handed them over his
ranch. Garza kills four gunmen and injures two, before he is killed too. He becomes a popular hero.

2010, December 3: In Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexican authorities capture U.S. citizen Edgar Jiménez
Lugo, a 14-year-old hit person from the South Pacific Cartel. He admits to taking part in the torture and
mutilation of four people. After serving three years, he is deported to the U.S.

2010, December 19: ​In the state of Puebla, a pipeline owned by the Mexican Petroleum company
(PEMEX) explodes after members of the Zetas Cartel illegally attempt to siphon off oil. The explosion
kills 28 people, injures 52, and damages over 115 homes.

2010, December 28: ​Around 60 gunmen storm the small indigenous town of Tierras Coloradas, Durango.
The gunmen burn 40 houses, 27 cars, and an elementary school. Some locals are killed and over 200 have
to flee the area.

2011, January: Mexican cartoonists Eduardo del Río “Rius” and Patricio Monero start the campaign
No+Sangre (No More Blood) which takes over via social media.

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2010, March: ​In Allende, Coahuila, Zetas commandos loot and destroy dozens of buildings, while
kidnapping an estimated 300 people, who were never seen again. The massive crime goes unreported by
the media.

2010, March 11: First banners announcing the Caballeros Templarios Cartel (Knights Templar Cartel)
appear. It is made from the remnants of the Familia Michoacana Cartel. They claim to have a strong
ethical code which orders them to protect widows and orphans, prohibits drug use and killing for money
and is against materialism.

2011, March 23​: The National Cannabis Trade Association is formed in the U.S. It claims that the
marijuana industry is worth $1.7 billion dollars and should be recognized as a proper industry.

2011, March 29: Mexican police find the bodies of six men and one woman inside an abandoned car in
an exclusive gated community in Temixco, Morelos. One of the victims is Juan Francisco Sicilia Ortega,
son of the renowned poet and journalist Javier Sicilia. This crime unleashes a wave of outrage
nationwide, demonstrates that most of the victims of the war are innocent civilians, deemed as “collateral
damage” by the authorities. Javier Sicilia becomes the main promoter and leader of the Movement for
Peace with Justice and Dignity.

2011, April 6: Javier Sicilia summons 25,000 people to march in Cuernavaca, Morelos, where they
subsequently camp outside the state government’s offices to demand an end to the War on Drugs. Sicilia
also issues a call for a national silent march for peace. Hashtag #MXHastalamadre (Mexico is fed up) is
created.

2011, April 15: ​The community of Cherán, Michoacán unites and kicks both politicians and drug
traffickers out of their town. It forms a community government.

2011, May 5. The National March for Peace begins in Cuernavaca’s Peace Monument with 500 people
walking and sharing stories about their experiences during the War on Drugs. Protestors walk to Mexico
City, where the march eventually grows to 100,000 people. The march is carried out in 20 major cities in
Mexico, as well as 25 cities around the world, including Berlin, Paris, and Madrid.

2011, May 11: ​Presidential candidate Enrique Peña Nieto visits the Ibero-American University as part of
his campaign. At the end of the conference he is asked about his role in the 2006 repression of activists in
Atenco during his tenure as governor of the State of Mexico state police cracked down local residents,
resulting in two deaths, hundreds brutalized, and 26 women raped by police. Peña Nieto responds he did
what was necessary and would do it again. Students protest out loud about his answer. Media outlets
report that the protest was actually carried out by non-students. As a response to these claims, 131
students show their university ID in a Youtube video, verifying that they were actual students. This later
gives life to the #YoSoy132 (I am 132) movement.

2011, May 14: In the state of Durango, the Mexican police exhume 340 bodies from numerous
clandestine mass graves. All the bodies present signs of torture, and none been identified. Never have
such massive killing fields been found in such a short time in Mexico - or anywhere in the Western
Hemisphere, for that matter.
2011, June 9: ​The United States government arrests 127 U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents who
were collaborating with the Mexican drug cartels.

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2011, June: ​A self-appointed Global Commission on Drug Policy releases a report on the War on Drugs,
declaring: “The global War on Drugs has failed, with devastating consequences for individuals and
societies around the world. Fifty years after the initiation of the UN Single Convention on Narcotic
Drugs, and years after President Nixon launched the U.S. government’s War on Drugs, fundamental
reforms in national and global drug control policies are urgently needed.” The 19-member commission
includes former world leaders such as ex-president of Brazil Fernando Henrique Cardoso: ex-president of
Mexico, Ernesto Zedillo; ex-president of Colombia, César Gaviria; President Reagan’s secretary of state,
George Schultz; and former U.N. secretary general Koffi Annan.

2011, July 23: ​Mexican president Felipe Calderón Hinojosa, as well as peace and human rights activists
including the poet Javier Sicilia, gather in Mexico City to initiate a national discussion on the country’s
military-led strategy against the drug cartels and the victims of the drug war.

2011, July 24: ​Since January, 19 Mexican chiefs of police have quit and 5 have been murdered. They
were all involved in combating drug trafficking.

2011, August 12: ​In Mexico City the Mexican Police arrests Óscar García Montoya, supreme leader of
the La Mano con Ojos Cartel. He confesses to having killed over 300 people himself, and ordering the
execution of 300 more.

2011, August 25: ​A well-armed commando group massacres 52 people, and injures over a dozen at a
casino in Monterrey, Nuevo León. The gunmen doused the building entrances with gasoline and started a
fire that trapped the people inside.

October 23: A U.S. official investigation reveals that from 2009 to 2011, under Operation Fast and
Furious the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) allowed illegal gun sales to
Mexican drug cartels in order to track the sellers and purchasers. An estimated 1,400 weapons were lost
by the ATF in Mexico.

2012, October 7: The Mexican Navy allegedly kills Heriberto Lazcano, kingpin of the Zetas Cartel. An
armed group takes his body from the funeral home.

2012, August-September: ​Mexican poet, Javier Sicilia, leads a U.S. Caravan for Peace to expose the
War on Drugs human toll.

2012, December: Despite major irregularities in the presidential elections, Enrique Peña Nieto of the
Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) is elected as the 57th President of Mexico. Massive protests
against his election spread throughout the country, including violent riots during Peña Nieto’s
inauguration on December 1.

2013, February 24: José Manuel Mireles, a medical doctor, and Hipólito Mora, a lemon grower from
Michoacán, take up arms against the Caballeros Templarios Cartel and all criminal groups competing to
take over the state. A number of self-defense militias emerge, and some of them initially collaborate with
the Secretariat of National Defense.

2013, June 6: The Mexican Army rescues 165 kidnapped immigrants from a safe house in Gustavo Díaz
Ordaz, Tamaulipas.

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2013, August 2: ​Official reports indicate that more than 700 women have been killed, and more than
2,000 have disappeared in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, from 1993 to 2013.

2013, December 1: ​Mexican authorities unearth at least 70 bodies from clandestine mass graves in La
Barca, Jalisco. While conducting an investigation for two missing police officers, almost two dozen
police officers confessed to working with drug cartels and led agents to the gravesite.

2013, December 6: ​Following a massive excavation in the outskirts of Zapopan, Jalisco, Mexican
authorities exhume a total of 17 bodies. The discovery of so many mass graves reveal Drug War’s toll.

2014, January 1: ​U.S. official investigations reveal that in 2007 and 2008 the Sinaloa Cartel and a
Colombian Cartel wire-transferred $881 million in illegal drug proceeds into U.S. accounts. HSBC, Bank
of America, Wachovia Bank, and JP Morgan are among the institutions allegedly involved in the money
laundering.

2014, February 8: ​In the northern region of the state of Coahuila, Mexican authorities unearth the
incinerated remains of over 500 people. In Coahuila alone, 1,600 people have been reported missing.

2014, February 19: Mexican authorities discover clandestine mass graves with at least 80 bodies in
Gómez Farías, Tamaulipas, an area under the control of the Zetas. In 2013, more than 200 people were
reported as disappeared in that region.

2014, March 20: The U.S. State Department reports that Mexican trafficking organizations have earned
between $19 and $29 billion every year from selling illegal drugs in the United States.

2014, June 30: The Mexican Army executes 22 alleged gang members in a warehouse in Tlatlaya, State
of Mexico. The National Human Rights Commission confirms that the victims were shot after they had
surrendered.

2014, June: ​Between January and June of 2014, nearly 70 kidnappings of U.S. citizens have been
reported to the U.S. Embassy and consulates in Mexico.

2014, September 26: ​The municipal police of Iguala, Guerrero, along with the Guerreros Unidos Cartel
kill six people and disappear 43 students of the Ayotzinapa Normal School. The Mexican Army is likely
an accomplice.

2014, October: At least 28 bodies are found in several clandestine mass graves in Iguala, Guerrero. None
of them corresponded to the Ayotzinapa students.

2014, December 16: A ​non-official investigation reports that from 2006 to 2012, roughly 700 women
have been killed in the State of Mexico.

2015, January: ​The Institute for Economics & Peace reports that Mexico ranks 144 out of 162 in the
Global Peace Index, and indicates that the national cost of violence amounts to more than $220 billion
Dollars.

2015, January 6: ​The Mexican Army kills sixteen unarmed civilians in Apatzingán, Michoacán.

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2015, January: U.S. President Obama backs the Mexican government amidst international complaints to
suspend military aid —including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.

2015, February 24: ​A Mexican official investigation claims that from 2000 to 2014, 103 journalists have
been murdered and 25 disappeared.

2015, February 26: Mexican security forces capture Servando Gómez Martínez kingpin of the Knights
Templar Cartel, in Morelia, Michoacán.

2015, July 11: Mexican drug lord, Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán, escapes, for the second time, from a
maximum-security prison. According to the official information, he used a mile-long tunnel built for him
under the prison complex.

2015, July 13: ​As of now, 23 states of the U.S. have decriminalized or legalized cannabis to some degree.
President Obama frees 46 non-violent drug federal inmates.

2015, July 27: ​While searching for the 43 disappeared students, a total of 60 mass graves have been
discovered in Iguala, Guerrero, with a total of 129 bodies. None of the remains have been linked to the
students.

CURRENT SCENARIO
Drug War Statistics:

1. Amount spent annually in the U.S. on the war on drugs: $47+ billion
2. Number of arrests in 2017 in the U.S. for drug law violations: 1,632,921
3. Number of drug arrests were for possession only: 1,394,514 (85.4 percent)
4. Number of people arrested for a marijuana law violations in 2017: 659,700
5. Number of those charged with marijuana law violations who were arrested for possession only:
599,282 (90.8 percent)
6. Percentage of people arrested for drug law violations who are Black or Latino: 46.9% (despite
making up just 31.5% of the U.S. population)
7. Number of people in the U.S. incarcerated in 2016: 2,205,300 – the highest incarceration rate in
the world
8. Number of people in the U.S. incarcerated for a drug law violation in 2016: 456,000
9. Number of people in the U.S. who died from an accidental drug overdose in 2017: 72,000
10. Number of states that allow the medical use of marijuana: 33+ District of Columbia
11. Number of states that have legalized marijuana: 10 (Alaska, California, Colorado, Maine,
Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont and Washington State) + District of
Columbia
12. Number of states that have decriminalized or removed the threat of jail time for simple possession
of small amounts of marijuana: 22
13. Number of people killed in Mexico's drug war since 2006: 200,000+
14. Number of people killed in the Philippines drug war since 2016: 12,000+
15. Number of students who have lost federal financial aid eligibility because of a drug conviction:
200,000+
16. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that syringe access programs lower HIV
incidence among people who inject drugs by: 80 percent

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Tax revenue that drug legalization would yield annually, if currently-illegal drugs were taxed at rates
comparable to those on alcohol and tobacco: $58 billion

Introduction: The War on Drugs and the New Strategy

In May 2009, White House Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske called “to completely and forever end the war
analogy, the War on Drugs.” The U.S. War on Drugs was first proclaimed in 1972 by Richard Nixon,
who defined narcotics as “public enemy number one,” initiating drug control policy framed in terms of
National Security at home and abroad. This approach criminalized illegal drug users using mostly law
enforcement agencies within the United States and establishing mainly military partnerships with
“transit” and “source” countries. With its ups and downs, the War on Drugs witnessed estimated figures
of US$117.6 billion spent on narcotics in the United States by 1999. In 2008, 20.1 million US citizens
reported having used any kind of illegal drugs in the past month” at least once. Outside the United States,
after participating militarily in different countries such as Colombia and Afghanistan, the last episode of
the War on Drugs in Mexico shows this country is facing a spiral of violence with approximately 50,000
drug trafficking-related deaths since 2006. Furthermore, Mexican cartels operate “in more than 230 US
cities.”

In this light, the 40-year-old War on Drugs has failed to defeat “public enemy number one” in its entirety.
Illegal drug use still has millions of U.S. consumers whilst narco-violence moved from Cali and Bogotá
to Ciudad Juárez and Monterrey, just on the border with the United States. In this scenario, Mr.
Kerlikowske's claim represents a noteworthy change in the discourse on narcotics policy. The Obama
administration reconstructed U.S. discourse on drug policy with Mexico by not expressing it any longer
as the War on Drugs. Its New Strategy favors education and treatment over law enforcement in dealing
with narcotics use. The main goal of the 2010 National Drug Control Strategy is to reduce the use of
drugs by 15 percent in the next five years. Abroad, the New Strategy still involves shrinking military
cooperation with Mexico while providing funding and expertise through the Mérida Initiative. However,
the 2009 National Southwest Border Counternarcotics Strategy “also recognizes the role that the
outbound flow of illegal cash and weapons plays in sustaining the cartels;” thus establishing U.S.
responsibility for resources fueling narco-bloodshed on Mexican soil.

This article examines how the War on Drugs identities regarding actors and roles differ from those
constructed in the New Strategy. Thus, this article claims for a discursive change in the identity of the
United States with respect to Mexico on drug control policy. It does so through a constructivist approach
as it envisions international relations going beyond the material capabilities of power as a cause of
policy-making, towards power conceived as discourse. Power is manifested through discursive
representations highlighting certain discourses and overshadowing alternative ones. When discourse is
constructed and accepted, determinate policy-scenarios are enabled. The realm of international relations is
a social construction built on intersubjectivity and language. Unlike neorealism and neoliberalism which
envision States and their environments as exogenous and closed identities fighting for either survival or
hegemony, constructivism looks for meaning construction since individuals in society require meaning
for their actions. Meaning is neither exclusive of the individual nor of society, but is constructed on the
practices and reproduction of both entities. Constructivism sees a world of social relations, in which
identities are constructed through production and contestation of meaning.

The proposed method analyses the identity constructions of the “self/ other” binary regarding the United
States and Mexico on the War on Drugs and the New Strategy. Inside the identities of the “self” and the
“other” are entangled a series of differences and equivalences constructing meaning in negative ways
utilizing “floating signifiers” and a “nodal point.” Whereas the logic of difference accentuates the

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disparities between signifiers, the logic of equivalence emphasizes the similarities between them. The use
of a nodal point enables the construction of a superior identity visà-vis the “other,” producing a hierarchy
of identities. The nodal point is the United States constructing itself as the top actor with floating
signifiers around its fixed position. The United States has active agency as a speaking, and policy-making
actor on the content of signifiers such as “help” and “sovereignty,” thus producing a shared discourse
with its “other” (Mexico) on narcotics policy. Since the power of language is pivotal in this article, a
discourse analysis to disentangle these articulations of meaning inside U.S. and Mexican identities is
essential. The materials to be examined are salient addresses by different U.S. presidents ranging from
Richard Nixon to Barack Obama and others by U.S. executive branch officers. In 1988, the Office of
National Drug Control Policy (hereinafter ONDCP) was created to set goals and measures on a timely
basis by producing NDCSs. Thus, this article focuses on selected addresses and official documents
produced by members of the U.S. executive branch and NDCSs by the ONDCP.

When the features of the War on Drugs and the New Strategy are analyzed and contrasted, it is possible to
say that the latter is a reconstruction of the former. The United States is still the top actor, but the “self”
and the “other” identities changed prompting a different scenario; thus, a change in U.S. identity becomes
plausible and this also reaches Mexico's identity: “So long as there is a difference, there is a potential for
change.” Finally, although the New Strategy is not a radical rupture from the War on Drugs, it seeks to
reduce the focus on criminalization and militaristic measures. The War on Drugs observed the rise of
cartels, the corruption of public institutions on both sides of the border, the skyrocketing of prices of
illegal drugs, and a death toll of thousands of Mexicans annually. The argument presented here
demonstrates past drug policies based on articulations of meaning creating identities of a virtuous,
sufficient and certain country vis-à-vis its flawed, deficient and uncertain neighbor. The identity changes
for the United States and Mexico reminds us that both countries are fallible States prone to contingencies.
Therefore, the best way to tackle the drug problem is by addressing public health and social exclusion on
both sides of the border under the banner of honesty between neighbors.

Impact of Interventions:

Harm Reduction:

Many jurisdictions are reducing fatalities by expanding the availability of naloxone, an opioid overdose
reversal drug. Every month, first responders in New York City save 180 lives by administering naloxone.
A Massachusetts program reduced opioid-related deaths by 11 percent by distributing naloxone to
individuals at risk of overdose, as well as to their family, friends, and service providers.

Syringe access programs provide people with clean injection equipment to prevent syringe sharing,
resulting in significant reductions in the incidence of blood-borne diseases. After implementing syringe
access services, Washington state documented an 80 percent drop in new diagnoses of hepatitis B and
hepatitis C. And in the District of Columbia, syringe access programs were credited with a 70 percent
decrease in new HIV infections over two years, saving $44.3 million in lifetime health care costs.
Nationally, researchers estimate that syringe access programs yield a return on investment of $7.58 for
every dollar spent.

More than 60 international cities now operate supervised injection facilities (SIFs).SIFs are safe, hygienic
places where individuals can inject pre obtained drugs under medical supervision. These facilities have
proven successful in connecting individuals with treatment and social services, as well as reducing
overdose fatalities and blood-borne illnesses. Over the course of two years, a safe injection site in
Vancouver, British Columbia, for example, was associated with a 35 percent reduction in overdose

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fatalities in its immediate vicinity. Safe injection sites also increased connections to substance use
services. In the year after establishing the facility, Vancouver saw a 30 percent increase in entry into
treatment among safe injection users, compared to the year before the site opened.

A number of American cities, including Philadelphia, Seattle, and New York are working to implement
SIFs. Philadelphia estimated that SIFs would save up to 76 lives every year and avert up to 18 cases of
HIV and 213 cases of hepatitis C. In New York, research found that SIFs would prevent an estimated 130
overdoses and save up to $7 million in health care costs annually.

Drug Courts:

Nationwide, there are more than 3,100 drug courts. These are specialized court programs that can reduce
recidivism by sentencing defendants to substance use treatment, supportive services, and supervision and
monitoring instead of incarceration. Interviews with drug court participants show significantly lower rates
of reoffending (40 percent), as compared to comparison groups (53 percent).Specifically, drug court
participation reduced future incidence of drug-related offenses, as well as property crimes.

A longitudinal study of drug courts in Multnomah County, Oregon found that the program had
long-lasting benefits. Fourteen years after enrolling in the program, drug court participants were 24
percent less likely to be rearrested for a drug-related offense and nearly 30 percent less likely to recidivate
overall. A national evaluation of drug courts found that participants were 26 percent less likely to report
substance use after completing the program than individuals processed through traditional judicial
systems. Drug court participants were also less likely than nonparticipants to report unmet educational,
employment, and financial service needs.

Drug court completion rates vary significantly by program, ranging from 30 percent to 70 percent.​55 The
low completion rates among participants suggest that drug court programming may not provide the
necessary support for some individuals. Successful graduation is also less common among communities
of color. In some drug courts, failure rates for black participants exceed that of white participants by 30
percent or more. Notably, unsuccessful participants are often sentenced to long periods of incarceration,
casting doubt on the model’s capacity to reduce entanglement with the criminal justice system.

Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion:

Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) programs allow officers to divert individuals to treatment
or social services, rather making low-level drug arrests. The model was pioneered in Seattle, where it has
yielded positive results. Individuals diverted through the LEAD program were 58 percent less likely to be
rearrested, as compared to similar individuals processed through the criminal justice system.

LEAD is associated with significant increases in housing and economic stability. After being referred to
LEAD, participants were 33 percent more likely to have an income or benefits, 46 percent more likely to
be employed or in vocational training, and 89 percent more likely to obtain permanent housing, as
compared to the month prior to referral. For every month individuals had stable housing, they were 17
percent less likely to be arrested. Every month of employment was associated with a 41 percent decrease
in likelihood of arrest. On average, LEAD participants spent 39 fewer days in jail per year and were 87
percent less likely to be incarcerated in prison than comparison groups. For each participant, LEAD was
associated with a $2,100 annual reduction in criminal and legal system costs. The average annual cost per
nonparticipant increased by $5,961 in the same period.

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 SUGGESTED MODERATED CAUCUS TOPICS
1. Discussing the war on drugs.
2. Discussing the drug policy alliance.
3. Discussing the importance of drug abuse research.
4. Discussing the timeline of America's drug war.
5. Discussing the drug war statistics.
6. Discussing the war on drugs and new strategy.
7. Discussing the impact of intervention.
8. Discussing the drug court.
9. Discussing the law enforcement assisted diversion.
10. Discussing the racial disparities.

RESEARCH LINKS
1. https://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=AwrWnfRR6AFdayMAjwUPxQt.;_ylu=X3oDMTByc3RzMXFj
BGNvbG8DZ3ExBHBvcwM0BHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzcg--/RV=2/RE=1560434897/RO=10/RU
=http%3a%2f%2fwww.drugpolicy.org%2fissues%2fbrief-history-drug-war/RK=2/RS=0F6kxovI
WF10bAQEZr3AEL7VUDc-
2. http://www.drugpolicy.org/issues/drug-war-statistics
3. https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/criminal-justice/reports/2018/06/27/452819/ending-war-
drugs-numbers/
4. https://reader.elsevier.com/reader/sd/pii/S1870057816300257?token=FFA6A3D6B23F74B7913C
EA1ED33716DA709F1FC3AC49A0C3E773E0F2B2FA8515E4C0C237F07AF11A5B6E2E0C5
AE84C6C
5. https://www.unodc.org/wdr2018/prelaunch/WDR18_Booklet_4_YOUTH.pdf
6. https://www.vox.com/2016/5/8/18089368/war-on-drugs-marijuana-cocaine-heroin-meth
7. https://www.history.com/topics/crime/the-war-on-drugs
8. https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/explainers/why-we-need-drug-policy-reform
9. https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9252490
10. http://www.drugpolicy.org/issues/brief-history-drug-war
11. https://researchguides.library.wisc.edu/c.php?g=560513&p=3904772
12. https://www.nap.edu/read/5297/chapter/3#21
13. https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/occasional_papers/2005/RAND_OP121.pdf
14. https://www.unodc.org/pdf/technical_series_1995-03-01_1.pdf

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