A group of former political leaders gets the message on stopping violence and drug consumption but overlooks that they are no longer in power to make it happen.  The global challenge is not knowing what to do but knowing how to get governments to do it.

The lecture that the Global Commission on Drug Policy gave governments on June 2, 2011 is unlikely to change policies because the governments are themselves addicted to supply reduction.  In Mexico alone, the initial expenditures on policing, prisons and the military were not enough.  So the government threw more tax money even though it was making things worse.  The result last year alone is 3000 deaths in Ciudad Juarez on the US border.

In March, 2009, Hillary Clinton ¨pledged to stand “shoulder to shoulder” with Mexico in its violent struggle against drug cartels, and admitted America’s demand for illegal narcotics and arms markets was partly to blame.¨ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/25/clinton-mexico-trip-agend_n_178983.html.  But this statement by one of the world´s most powerful current leaders was not enough to see the Merida agreement include an emphasis on demand reduction equal to supply reduction in the USA!

The group of former leaders was guided by four noble principles, including the importance of empirical evidence, human rights, shared global responsibility, and comprehensive policies.  Its eleven recommendations cover most of what has been identified by applying those principles in the past. They called for governments to be more constructive in reducing consumption … and … experiment with the legal regulation of drugs, especially cannabis, referring to the success of countries such as Portugal, Switzerland and the Netherlands.

But they did not tell governments how to put those principles and recommendations into practice.  Unfortunately, they have not got us any further forward than Hillary Clinton’s declarations and not surprisingly Mexico and Washington were quick to deny the need for any changes.  Even such no brainers as getting reinvestment in evidence-based prevention, with a special focus on youth does not happen in the USA with their Attorney General praising such sound public health strategies.

It was federal incentives that got the USA to be the world´s number one jailer.  So it will be federal incentives that will get the USA to be the country that is most successful in preventing youth violence and drug addiction through public health strategies – proven to work already in the USA.  The US is an important leader – their example will influence many others.