LATIN AMERICAN EX-PRESIDENTS CALL FOR SHIFT IN DRUG WAR

MIAMI -- With drug violence and consumption rising across the
hemisphere, a commission of three former Latin American presidents has
blasted the U.S.-led drug war, calling it a failure and badly in need
of public re-examination.

Drug policy needs to move away from exclusive reliance on policing, to
be treated as a broader public health issue with greater emphasis on
reducing the harm drugs cause, according to the Latin-American
Commission on Drugs and Democracy, led by three former presidents from
Brazil, Mexico and Colombia.

"The available evidence indicates that the war on drugs is a failed
war," said Fernando Henrique Cardoso, a former president of Brazil
(1995-2003) noted for his fiscal conservatism.

The report calls for "a rigorous evaluation" of alternatives to drug
prohibition, including European methods of drug prevention and
treatment. The commission said it was not endorsing legalization of
drugs, though its recommendations did call for an evaluation of the
possible decriminalization of marijuana, as well as intensified
efforts to educate youths.

"This report represents a major leap forward in the global drug policy
debate," said Ethan Nadelmann, director of the Drug Policy Alliance,
which advocates reform of current drug policy.

While it is not the first time Latin American leaders have criticized
global drug policy, analysts say it is the most thorough and
high-level effort to do so. "An ever-growing number of Latin American
leaders from across the political spectrum recognize that the
prohibitionist approach to drug control has wreaked havoc throughout
the region," Nadelmann said.

Drug-related violence has claimed about 6,000 lives in Mexico in the
past year, according to the government. At least 21 people died in
Mexico on Tuesday in one incident near a town close to the U.S.
border. A drug gang kidnapped and killed six people, and 15 others
died in gunbattles with soldiers.

The creation of the commission coincides with a review of global drug
policies within the United Nations, which concludes next month with a
major meeting in Austria. The commission was formed by several
nonprofit groups in Latin America working on drug issues and backed by
the Open Society Institute, founded by U.S. financier and
philanthropist George Soros. The commission apparently chose not to
invite serving Latin American presidents in order to give the
commission more political freedom to speak openly.

The report echoes the finding of a recent Brookings Institution study,
which concluded that intense interdiction and eradication efforts have
failed to decrease the global supply of drugs. Punitive methods have
also had no success in lowering drug use, it said.

Latin America is increasingly facing its own problem with drug
consumption, a new phenomenon in most countries that has been growing
alarmingly, especially in Brazil and Mexico. Latin American countries
do not have the resources to follow the U.S. policy of throwing drug
users in jail, said former Colombian President Cesar Gaviria
(1990-94), noting that the U.S. jail population has tripled in recent
years due to drug crimes.

The commission also stressed the need to "break the taboo" in the
debate over drug policy, which has silenced criticism of current
policy. "We would really like to see a debate in the U.S.," added
Gaviria, who said the United States remained key to setting global
drug policy as it is by far the largest drug consumer market.

Politicians, he said, were fearful of addressing the drug issue
"because they might be called soft on crime."

[Sidebar]

THE DRUG WAR

Where the money goes: About three-quarters of the U.S. anti-drug
effort goes toward enforcement, particularly arresting and prosecuting
and imprisoning drug offenders, according to congressional testimony
last year by University of Maryland drug expert Peter Reuter. The
number of people jailed on drug charges is up tenfold since 1980, from
50,000 to more than 500,000 today, at a cost of $15 billion a year.

Obama's stance: As a presidential candidate, Sen. Barack Obama said
that the "war on drugs is an utter failure" and that he believes in
"shifting the paradigm, shifting the model, so that we focus more on a
public health approach." He has also supported decriminalizing
marijuana. ABC News reported Wednesday that Obama is considering
appointing Seattle police Chief Gil Kerlikowske, as his drug czar.
Seattle is known for its lax policy on marijuana, as well as
progressive drug prevention and treatment policies.