Monday, August 18, 2008

Wall Street Journal OpEd Mary Anastasia O'Grady has previously shown a willingness in the Wall Street Journal OpEd pages to recognize the damaging effect of prohibition on the stability in Mexico. She does so even more explicitly in today's OpEd: Mexico Pays the Price of Prohibition In a developed country like the U.S., prohibition takes a toll on the rule of law but does not overwhelm it. In Mexico, where a newly revived democracy is trying to reform institutions after 70 years of autocratic governance under the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), the corrupting influence of drug profits is far more pernicious. ... Drug profits going to organized crime only complicate the matter. Writing in the latest issue of the Milken Institute Review, former U.S. foreign service officer Laurence Kerr takes a page out of U.S. history. "America has been in Mexico's shoes: flush with the bounty of illegal liquor sales, organized crime thoroughly penetrated the U.S. justice system during Prohibition. As long as Americans willingly bury Mexican drug traffickers in greenbacks, progress in constraining the trade is likely to be limited." She fails to go the necessary next step and point out the logical conclusion: prohibition is the wrong answer. However, it's still nice to see any public acknowledgement of the dirty little secret of the drug war -- it has damaging consequences. [H/T to Jimi Divine] 7:58:56 PM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []