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War on Drugs” Through the US-Mexico Prism Rethinking the “War on Drugs” Through the US-Mexico Prism

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War on Drugs” Through the US-Mexico Prism Rethinking the “War on Drugs” Through the US-Mexico Prism Rethinking the “War on Drugs” through the US-Mexico Prism Rethinking the “War on Drugs” Through the US-Mexico Prism Edited by Ernesto Zedillo Haynie Wheeler 1 Rethinking the “War on Drugs” Through the US-Mexico Prism A Yale Center for the Study of Globalization eBook Edited by Ernesto Zedillo Haynie Wheeler Betts House 393 Prospect Street New Haven, CT 06511 USA Tel: (203) 432-1900 Fax: (203) 432-1200 Email: [email protected] Web: www.ycsg.yale.edu © Yale Center for the Study of Globalization, 2012 The papers contained in this book are based on presentations from the conference Rethinking the “War on Drugs” Through the US-Mexico Prism, organized by the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization at Yale University in New Haven, Con- necticut on May 12 and 13, 2011. It was made possible by the generous support of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Yale Center for the Study of Globalization The Yale Center for the Study of Globalization (YCSG) was established in 2001 to enhance understanding of this fundamental process and to promote exchanges of information and ideas about globalization between Yale and the policy world. The Center is devoted to examining the impact of our increasingly integrated world on individuals, communities, and nations. Globalization presents challenges and opportunities. The Center’s purpose is to support the creation and dissemination of ideas for seizing the opportunities and overcoming the challenges. It is particularly focused on practical policies to enable the world’s poorest and weakest citizens to share in the benefits brought by globalization. It also explores solutions to problems that, even if they do not result directly from integration, are global in nature, and can therefore be effectively addressed only through international cooperation. In addition to drawing on the intellectual resources within the Yale community, the Center actively collaborates with institutions and individuals across the globe. Contents Acknowledgements 6 Overview 8 Ernesto Zedillo The War on Drugs Under Plan Colombia 19 Daniel Mejía An Assessment of Illegal Protection Markets in Mexico 33 Eduardo Guerrero Gutiérrez On Mexican Violence 47 Héctor Aguilar Camín Views from the Frontline: Drug Policy in Mexico 57 Jorge Hernández Tinajero Violence in Central America 64 Joaquín Villalobos The Public Health Impact of Drug Policies 73 Thomas F. Babor Is Prevalence an Appropriate Target for Drug Policy? 85 Peter Reuter Will the Obama Administration Implement a More 95 Health-Oriented Approach to Drug Policy? Keith Humphreys Legalizing Drugs in the US: A Solution for 108 Mexico’s Problems for Which Mexico Should Not Wait Jonathan Caulkins, Michael Lee 4 Targeting Drug-Trafficking Violence in Mexico: 125 An Orthogonal Approach Mark Kleiman Government Policy Toward Illegal Drugs: 137 An Economist’s Perspective Jeffrey Miron Rethinking America’s Illegal Drug Policy 145 John J. Donohue, III Why Existing Economic Studies of the “War 159 on Drugs” are Insufficient for Informing Policies Using a US-Mexico Perspective Rosalie Pacula Debunking the Mythical Numbers about 168 Marijuana Production in Mexico and the United States Beau Kilmer 5 Acknowledgements The motivation for the conference reflected in this volume stems from our belief that the existing framework for dealing with drug policies does not work. As part of our ongoing effort to support the creation and dissemination of ideas toward preserving international peace and security, we organized a forum at the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization in which we could take stock and distill the relevant research and empirical evidence generated over the years with regard to the present drug policies and make an effort to determine whether there is some potential for alternative policies. We elected to confront the research and existing policies with the state of affairs on this issue as seen through the prism of Mexico and the US. As we refined our thinking about the legal, economic and health issues surround- ing drug policies, we began inquiring about Yale faculty active in one aspect or another in this field. It did not take us long to find out that Yale’s resources in this area are truly rich and among them we are fortunate to have Professor Jody Sindelar as part of our faculty at the School of Public Health. Jody’s research and teaching convinced us immediately that her advice and partnership would be essential to put together a good event on the subject. We are grateful to Jody for her time and the efforts she put into bringing this conference to fruition. We also want to thank Kaveh Khoshnood for enlightening us on the topic and for his many useful suggestions. Furthermore, we are grateful to two fine students who ably assisted in this endeavor – Nevada Griffin and Ray Serrano. These two energetic and knowledgeable students were key to the effort – before, during and after the conference. The conference discussions were enhanced by three Yale scholars who served as moderators, each of whose own work on and interest in these topics has expanded our thinking and understanding of the legal and economic ramifica- 6 tions of drug policies as well as the issue of substance abuse overall. We want to thank Professor William Nordhaus, unquestionably one of our chief mentors on global contemporary issues, for having erupted into Zedillo’s office one sum- mer day – probably after reading one more piece of bad news on what has been happening in Mexico – and urged him to be more proactive in the study of the drug problem, while expressing his disappointment on the disconnect existing between serious analysis and policy around this topic. We are similarly grateful to Richard Schottenfeld. Everyone at Yale with whom we spoke about the project mentioned his name and encouraged us to get him involved. Professor Schottenfeld graciously accepted to be part of the meeting and well represented the public health side of the issue. We were also pleased that this conference introduced us to Steven Duke, teaching just down the street at the Law School, as his work, spanning many, many years, clearly serves as a key reference point for contemporary analysts. Finally, we would like to thank all the participants who not only joined us in New Haven for the event itself, but also kindly responded to our requests for revised papers, which we are proud to present to you in this volume. Ernesto Zedillo Haynie Wheeler 7 Overview Ernesto Zedillo Yale Center for the Study of Globalization Since its inception the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization has had as part of its mission the analysis of problems that, even if not resulting directly from globalization, happen to be global in nature or at least are exacerbated by glo- balization and can therefore be effectively addressed only through international cooperation. In fulfillment of this goal, in addition to core globalization issues like international trade and investment, over the years the Center has been en- gaged in topics such as climate change and nuclear disarmament. Within the same category of issues – those not caused by but related to globalization—the problem of illicit drugs and international crime is one in which we engaged only lately. In 2008 we collaborated with the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy [http://www.drogasedemocracia.org/English/] and more recently with the Global Commission on Drug Policy that released its final report in June 2011 [http://www.globalcommissionondrugs.org/]. Yet, unlike other international collaborations undertaken by the Center in the past, on the drugs topic we had not organized any academic activity at Yale. That omission was fixed with the celebration on May 12-13, 2011 of a conference titled Rethinking the ‘War on Drugs’ through the US-Mexico Prism. Of course, the problem is truly global. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) estimates that there were as many as 250 million drug users worldwide in 2009, some 38 million of which were drug dependent. Global drug use has increased significantly over the past half century. In 2004, cannabis was the most widely used illicit substance, accounting for more than 80% of drug 8 Rethinking the “War on Drugs” through the US-Mexico Prism use that year, followed by the use of opiates (8%) and cocaine (7%). While recent trends suggest drug use prevalence may be tapering off globally, the sheer num- ber of people affected (approximately 4% of the world’s population use drugs) and the widespread social, economic and political impact of drug use continue to rank it at the top of global policy agendas. But few places in the world better characterize the full extent of policy challenges resulting from drug trafficking and consumption than the United States and Mexico. The US is the world’s largest consumer of drugs. It comprises just five percent of the global population, yet most estimates suggest that the US accounts for over 25 percent of global demand for illicit drugs. At the same time, Mexico is the US’s largest supplier of illicit drugs, and an increasingly significant supplier of drugs to many European nations. Furthermore, in recent years Mexico has been affected by an epidemic of violence stemming from organized crime of unprecedented propor- tions. Our Center’s conference had a modest but critical objective: to take stock and distill the relevant research and empirical evidence generated over the years on the drug problem and confront it with the state of affairs on this issue as seen through the prism of the United States and Mexican experiences. That review is warranted if only because the essence of drug policies – a law enforcement approach – has remained invariant for a long time despite evidence questioning its pertinence.
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