WAR ON DRUGS IN LATIN AMERICA-A FAILED WAR? COLOMBIA - THE LEARNED LESSON

Abstract

This article tries to evaluate the results of the US War on Drugs, to analyze the prohibitionist drug policy implementation in Latin America, especially in Colombia, where the national and regional stability are under the constant threat resulting from drug trafficking and criminal activities. The drug prohibition policy that relies on the eradication of drug production and on the criminalization of drug use have not provided the expected results, the production and consumption of drugs in Latin America continued to grow at a steady pace, and among the negative effects of these policies we cand find the generalization of cross-regional corruption, the loss of human lives, the balloon effect, the creation of new transit routes for drug trafficking. All these elements clearly underscore the inefficiency of these prohibition policies based solely on supply reduction, a vision that has been recently heavily supported by Latin American leaders who have proposed a new global drug paradigm, a more effective, safer and more humane global drug policy. Understanding the importance of interdependence and full international cooperation in order to develop a new global drug paradigm is essential in a highly globalized international environment, in which the drug trafficking threats to the individual, national, regional and global security cannot be dealt with unilaterally. Keywords: War on drugs, Drug trafficking, Prohibitionist drug policy, Plan Colombia, New global drug paradigm