The Economist: the "least bad" way to deal with drug problem is to legalize ...

The Economist: the "least bad" way to deal with drug problem is to legalize them

via Boing Boing by Mark Frauenfelder on 3/6/09

The Economist says legalization is the least harmful drug policy. (But it won't happen, because the criminals don't want it, law enforcement doesn't want it, and the prison systems -- one of the few growth industries remaining in the Great Recession -- don't want it.)

Next week ministers from around the world gather in Vienna to set international drug policy for the next decade. Like first-world-war generals, many will claim that all that is needed is more of the same. In fact the war on drugs has been a disaster, creating failed states in the developing world even as addiction has flourished in the rich world. By any sensible measure, this 100-year struggle has been illiberal, murderous and pointless. That is why The Economist continues to believe that the least bad policy is to legalise drugs.

"Least bad" does not mean good. Legalisation, though clearly better for producer countries, would bring (different) risks to consumer countries. As we outline below, many vulnerable drug-takers would suffer. But in our view, more would gain.

Prohibition has failed; legalisation is the least bad solution