DISPATCHES FROM THE WAR ON DRUGS

To the Editor:

Regarding former President Jimmy Carter's Op-Ed article, don't look to
the Obama administration for change. The White House Office of
National Drug Control Policy immediately rejected the Global
Commission on Drug Policy's recommendations and defended the "balanced
drug control efforts" of the federal government. These "balanced"
efforts have given the United States the highest incarceration rate in
the world.

The United States-financed Merida Initiative has led to unprecedented
violence across the border. Upward of 35,000 people have been killed
in prohibition-related violence in Mexico over the last four years.
Despite random drug testing, warrantless searches and mandatory
minimum prison sentences, the United States has higher rates of drug
use than European Union countries that have decriminalized drug use.

The drug war is an abject failure. America can no longer afford to
throw good money after bad drug policy.

ROBERT SHARPE

Washington, June 17, 2011