Whack-a-mole Drug War: Ending 40 Years of Drug War: The Impact on Latin America

This article, from Insight, a private security analysis firm, argues that, while legalization of drugs would - in the long run - weaken the cartels by removing their largest source of income, in the short run, it would drive those employed in the drug trade into other criminal activity such as extortion and kidknapping.

Thus, the article argues, legalization should be delayed until the police and courts systems of Mexico and other Latin American countries can improve significantly on their abysmal conviction rates.

We would argue that, while it is absolutely true that justice systems in Mexico and other Central American states are a disaster and need vast improvement, those very systems are innundated with corruption funded by virtually unlimited amounts of drug money. As long as that flood of money continues, reform of the justice systems is swimming against an enormously powerful tide.

Ending 40 Years of Drug War: The Impact on Latin America: "The 40th anniversary of Washington's war on drugs has sparked calls for the decriminalization of narcotics, but what may seem like common sense for the U.S. could spell disaster for Latin America."