Another Lesson on Illegal Drugs Policy

Governments world over develop anti-narcotics polices with due regard neither to the lessons of past actions nor the realities of the economics of illegal goods. Fuzzy thinking now is wedded to the idea that terrorist groups are raising money from sale of opium in Afghanistan and that an additional objective of the fight against the Taliban is to eradicate opium cultivation.

As if the lesson was still required, Willem Buiter, a profesor of economics at the LSE, states in the Financial Times why the expenditures on eradication and military response are unjustified. This symbolic show of toughness ought to be saved for the Taliban and not to the farmers seeking a livelihood. he makes the strong case for legalization with taxation to pay for the treatment of users who may have developed a dependency. Otherwise, the continuing ban works to the advantage of the organized crime groups because only they can meet demand.

The area of narcotics policy is an appropriate one for multilateral action and rules. When nations decide that the views supporting a law and order approach to narcotics policy should be reviewed, they will know what to do.The unpleasant truth of decades spent fighting expensive but ill-informed drug wars is out there.