War on Drugs news stories on Newser

Is War on Drugs Bad for Chocolate?

Matt Cantor — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 09:06:21 CDT

To cut down on production of the coca plants behind cocaine, the US has pushed an alternative crop to Peruvian farmers: a high-yielding cocoa hybrid. And while CCN-51 has had commercial benefits, there's one problem, chocolate experts say—it just doesn't taste that good. Instead, these connoisseurs say, Peru should...

Obama: Drug 'Legalization Is Not the Answer'

Mark Russell — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 07:45:40 CDT

With an election year well under way, President Obama went to the Summit of the Americas in Colombia determined to talk about trade deals and the economy. Unfortunately, many of the other leaders wanted to talk about the failed war on drugs and legalization, reports the LA Times . "In spite...

Ron Paul Slams 'War on Drugs'

Rob Quinn — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 09:02:05 CST

Ron Paul, on a swing through Western states, showed an enthusiastic Seattle crowd why he is a GOP candidate like no other. He decried the "war on drugs," saying "we are allowed to deal with our eternity and all that we believe in spiritually, and if we're allowed to read...

Cops Fired for Opposing War on Drugs

Kevin Spak — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 15:33:04 CST

Bryan Gonzalez was working as a Border Patrol agent in New Mexico when he made the fatal mistake of musing to a colleague that legalizing marijuana would end Mexico’s violent drug war. He was fired soon afterwards; his termination letter said he held “personal views that were contrary to the...

Commando-Style DEA Squads Fight Cartels Abroad

Evann Gastaldo — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 07:31:10 CST

The war on drugs meets the war on terror: In 2008, George W. Bush started a DEA program called FAST (Foreign-deployed Advisory Support Team), meant to investigate Afghanistan drug traffickers linked to the Taliban. The program continued under President Obama, and now includes five military-trained squads of special agents that...

Mexicans to US: Stop Consuming Drugs

Evann Gastaldo — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 12:45:05 CDT

A Mexican poet and hundreds of activists toured some of the most dangerous cities in Mexico last week on what he called a “trail of pain,” calling for an end to the violent drug war rocking the country. Javier Sicilia, whose 24-year-old son was killed in March by a narco...

War on Drugs Has Been '40 Years of Folly'

John Johnson — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 13:50:13 CDT

Next week marks the 40th anniversary of President Nixon's launch of the war on drugs, writes Charles Blow in the New York Times . It is most definitely not a celebratory column. It is "a war that has waxed and waned, sputtered and sprinted, until it became an unmitigated disaster, an...

Congress: US Wasting Billions in War on Drugs

Kevin Spak — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 07:57:01 CDT

The Obama administration has essentially no evidence that the billions spent combating the drug trade in Latin America have done anything to stem the flow of narcotics into the US, according to a pair of scathing new congressional reports. “We are wasting tax dollars and throwing money at a problem...

War on Drugs a Bust: Global Panel

Rob Quinn — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 07:39:20 CDT

The American-led war on drugs is a failure and governments should move toward the legalization of some drugs, especially marijuana, concludes a report from a panel of politicians and former world leaders. The Global Commission on Drug Policy panel—which includes former UN chief Kofi Annan, the former presidents of...