OAS Chief Urges New Approach to Failed ‘War on Drugs’
OAS Chief Urges New Approach to Failed ‘War on Drugs’
Pronouncements by the regional body do not necessary translate into action, for example in this case to mitigate the drug problem in Latin America, comments AS/COA’s Christopher Sabatini.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – With the Organization of American States due to hold a special general assembly in Guatemala on illicit drugs in less than a week, OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza insisted there now exists “regional consensus” regarding drug use and trafficking throughout the hemisphere.
In a wide-ranging speech Tuesday at the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington, Insulza said the 35 OAS member nations no longer see the drug problem as a public safety matter but rather as a public health issue. Authorities also want alternatives to jailing drug addicts, he said.
The main theme of the Sept. 19 gathering in Guatemala is “For a Hemispheric Drug Policy in the 21st Century.” Its conclusions will be presented at the 2016 General Assembly of the United Nations.
Insulza, citing an OAS report presented in May 2013 to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, said the decades-old “war on drugs” was simply not working....
Christopher Sabatini, senior director of policy at the Americas Society, said that pronouncements by the regional body do not necessary translate into action.
“The OAS provides a forum for discussion of the issue, and its reports on drug production serves as an important source in the public debate,” he said. “The problem is that – as with all things in the OAS proper – the information and the potential to react to it are held captive to the consensus-based, political nature of the OAS....”
