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War on Drugs Report THE COST AND CONSEQUENCES OF THE WAR ON DRUGS REPORT New York, August 7, 2019 Authors: Alvaro Piaggio, Consultant Email: [email protected] Prachi Vidwans, Research Associate Email: [email protected] Human Rights Foundation Center for Law and Democracy 350 Fifth Avenue, #4202 New York, NY 10118 hrf.org 1 Table of Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 01-11 PART I. AN INTRODUCTION TO PROHIBITION 02 The History of Prohibition 04 The Economics of the Illicit Market 07 Cost and Outcomes of Supply-Centric, Prohibitionist Policies 11 Overview 12-56 PART II. CASE STUDIES 13 COLOMBIA: A PRODUCTION COUNTRY 14 General Information 15 Historical Context and Government Policy 18 Costs for Human Rights and Democracy 18 Violence vs. the right to life 20 Internal displacement of people 22 Impoverishment of the rural poor 22 Increase of sickness and disease 22 Corruption and the rule of law 23 Corruption and electoral integrity 24 Chilling effect on journalists and civil society 25 Conclusion 27 M E X I C O : A TRANSIT COUNTRY 28 General Information 29 Historical Context and Government Policy 31 Costs for Human Rights and Democracy 31 Violence vs. the right to life 33 Disappearances 35 Internal displacement of people 36 Attacks on journalists 38 Attacks on civil society 39 Electoral fraud 39 Corruption and impunity 42 Conclusion 43 THE UNITED STATES: A DESTINATION COUNTRY 44 General Information 46 Historical Context and Government Policy 49 Costs for Human Rights and Democracy 49 Mass Incarceration and Criminalization 49 Discrimination against Black Americans and other marginalized groups 51 Disenfranchisement of Black Americans and other marginalized groups 52 Weakening of due process and judicial discretion 53 Inaccessibility of health care 55 Conclusion 57 CONCLUSION 61 ENDNOTES Executive Summary The “war on drugs” was first declared by established, how the resulting black mar- U.S. President Richard Nixon in 1971, with ket functions, and how its policies have ul- the goal of eradicating what he viewed as timately failed to decrease drug abuse. the growing problem of drug addiction. Since then, it has had dire consequences, Once we have established whether pro- including the exacerbation of human rights hibition policies have created the desired violations and erosion of democratic insti- outcomes, we look at the negative conse- tutions around the world. Yet human rights quences of the policy — the human rights groups largely refrain from discussing consequences — through three case stud- drug policy. ies: Colombia, Mexico, and the United States. These countries were selected because of Hundreds of civil society groups around their positions along the illegal drug supply the world are dedicated to investigating chain. Colombia is a production country the outcomes of the drug war and advo- on the cocaine supply chain because of cating drug policy reform based on their its position in the Andes mountain range, findings. However, drug reform advocates where coca, the plant used to manufacture often comment that international human cocaine, grows. Mexico is a transit country rights organizations have been largely that traffickers pass through on their way absent in these discussions. Human rights to the drugs’ final stop: the United States, a reports generally stick to noting human destination country. Drug prohibition has rights violations in affected states as a taken different forms in each country be- whole, without investigating the viola- cause of their position on the supply chain. tions’ relation to drug policy and drug traf- By examining each country, we hope to un- ficking organizations. derstand how different prohibition policies shape human rights outcomes. Knowing this, the Human Rights Founda- tion initiated its War on Drugs Research The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) is a Project to examine data and existing re- nonpartisan nonprofit organization that search on the global drug war’s costs and promotes and protects human rights glob- consequences in order to understand drug ally, with a focus on closed societies. HRF’s policy from a human rights perspective. focus shapes the scope of this report. The The resulting report is organized in two organization focuses on civil and political parts. The first offers a high-level intro- rights: the rights to free expression, belief, duction to the drug war’s history and eco- assembly, association, press; to liberty and nomics. It explains how prohibition was security of the person; to access informa- tion; to political participation and to vote; in government, and corruption; and a dete- i For more information, and, of course, to life, among others. As rioration of rule of law and electoral com- see https://hrf.org/re- search_posts/political-re- many of these rights constitute the defini- petition. The report’s findings suggest that, gime-map/ tion of liberal democracy, HRF research from a human rights perspective, there pays special attention to the political sys- must be a shift from international drug tems of countries in which human rights policies that focus on criminalization and violations take place. In this report, this supply reduction, to ones that have human means that we have taken special care to rights and health at their core. understand how the drug war interacts with and affects a country’s democratic health. Colombia, Mexico, and the United States are all categorized as democratic countries under HRF’s Political Regime Re- search Project,i which categorizes all coun- tries in the world into regime types using a methodology adapted from the one present- ed in Steven Levitsky and Lucan A. Way in Competitive Authoritarianism.1 It is well established that prohibition has failed to reduce consumption and abuse. But prohibition is not just ineffective; it’s harmful. This report shows how prohibi- tion’s policies have directly caused severe human rights violations in affected coun- tries, especially by undermining civil and political rights to such a degree that these policies constitute a threat to democracy. Supply-centric policies have had grave con- sequences for individuals, communities, and the health of democratic institutions, including high rates of violence, disappear- ances, kidnappings, and incarceration; impacts on local communities and minority populations; state instability, lack of trust PART I. AN INTRODUCTION TO PROHIBITION THE HISTORY OF PROHIBITION Concerns with drug abuse have a long my, President Nixon reasoned, was so history, and prohibition — the banning pervasive that the United States would of drug production, sale, possession, be required to “wage a new, all-out of- and use — has been a popular policy fensive” across the world to defeat it.45 response from the start. This kind of language was greatly influ- ential in establishing the war on drugs In 1810, the Qing Dynasty in China as a global struggle focused on elimi- passed the first narcotics law in the nating substance abuse. In fact, global world, banning opium mud and enforc- policy surrounding drugs has predomi- ing the death penalty for traffickers nantly been shaped by the United States’ and dealers as addiction began to rise.2 advocacy for an “absolutist prohibition Despite the restrictions, following the approach,”6 and while prohibition is a Opium Wars between Qing Dynasty matter of international law, the global and the British Empire, opium and co- drug war is widely considered a U.S.-led caine addiction and abuse continued campaign. to rise. By the start of the 20th century, influential American leaders, including The resultant international treaties U.S. Opium Commissioner Hamilton codified prohibition as the unified Wright, appointed in 1908, had begun global drug policy, limiting describing drugs as a “curse” and moral the legal use of drugs to threat that must be removed entirely scientific use and medical from society. Following U.S. leadership, treatment. After more than in 1909, world powers convened in 100 years of international Shanghai for the Opium Commission, prohibition policy, the which aimed to find a collective way drug market is alive and to eliminate “drug abuse” once and for well, though underground. all.3 This initial meeting, along with the The rhetoric calling for the Paris Convention in 1931, established elimination of drugs from the modern framework of narcotics society has not been trans- control, which was finally formalized lated into successful policy. in a series of documents and treaties Given this, many have from the 1960s onwards: the U.N. Single argued that the complete U.S. President Richard Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961, removal of drugs from society is simply Nixon (Photo from the the 1972 Protocol, the 1971 Convention unachievable. Nevertheless, this goal United States Library on Psychotropic Substances, and, fi- has shaped policy discussions: The of Congress) nally, the United Nations Convention sessions that produced the 1998 U.N. Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs Convention on drugs was convened un- and Psychotropic Substances of 1998. der the optimistic slogan, “a drug-free world, we can do it!”7 The term “war on drugs” was coined in 1971, by U.S. President Richard Nixon Similarly, though the treaties establish during an historic press conference a global mission (ending global drug where he identified “drug abuse” as consumption and abuse) with a general “public enemy number one.” This ene- policy guideline (prohibition), they did 2 not establish processes to coordinate ef- addicts, health services to drug users, ii For more informa- tion, see Francisco forts across nations. The guidelines es- or improve the socio-economic condi- Thoumi’s remarks at tablished by U.N. treaties give countries tions that lead to drug abuse. the 2018 Oslo Freedom a degree of freedom in battle drug use Forum: https://hrf. and trade within their borders, and as Many production and transit coun- org/research/war-on- a result, the strategies and harshness of tries have historically been low- to drugs.
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