Saturday’s Central American security summit, which was boycotted by half the presidents in the region, provided a clear indication that Guatemala’s efforts to push for an alternative, regional drug-control strategy are faltering quickly.
The three government leaders that did attend the meeting—Guatemala’s Otto Pérez, Costa Rica’s Laura Chinchilla and Panama’s Ricardo Martinelli—offered up a messy hodgepodge of proposals, indicating how difficult consensus will be even among those who agree to sit down and discuss the issue.
To be fair, the other countries did send high-level representatives. There's also the possibility of a second meeting where the subject will be raised,
What is the hodgepodge? Boz writes
- A stronger crackdown on drugs.
- US payments per kilo of cocaine seized by the region.
- A regional court with its own judges and lawyers.
- Decriminalization of drug trafficking and use.
I can't say whether policies one, two and three would be effective. However, I think that OPM would have been more likely to have garnered support for those suggestions among his regional colleagues and within the US had he not started and stopped with number 4.
As I argued in Decriminalising drugs in the Western hemisphere at Al Jazeera about two weeks ago, OPM would likely have gotten more support for changing regional drug policies had he not started off with the suggestion that they consider legalizing the production, transportation, and consumption of all drugs.
It's unfortunate because a serious rethinking of regional and national drug policies is necessary.
As I argued in Decriminalising drugs in the Western hemisphere at Al Jazeera about two weeks ago, OPM would likely have gotten more support for changing regional drug policies had he not started off with the suggestion that they consider legalizing the production, transportation, and consumption of all drugs.
It's unfortunate because a serious rethinking of regional and national drug policies is necessary.
No comments:
Post a Comment