Source: Inter-American-Dialogues

October 16, 2009

By Matthew Schewel

A group of US lawmakers is calling for a re-examination of America’s
decades-old “war on drugs,” which since 1980 has cost taxpayers at least
$14 billion through anti-narcotics efforts in Latin America and the
Caribbean. A House subcommittee on Thursday unanimously approved a bill
that would create a bipartisan commission to examine US drug policy in
the Western Hemisphere amid calls for a greater emphasis on reducing
demand for drugs in the United States. The legislation still faces a
full committee vote before it can go to the House floor.

Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), who chairs the House Foreign Affairs
Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere and sponsored the legislation,
said US drug-fighting efforts have failed in part because they have not
considered domestic demand for illegal drugs. “I think that has to be
part of the policy,” Engel told the Advisor. “It really hasn’t been and,
as a result, we don’t seem to be much better off than we were 20, 30 or
40 years ago.” He noted that despite Colombia’s successes in improving
safety and fighting drug cartels, the amount of drugs produced in the
country has remained constant over the past few years.

Engel’s bill sets aside $2 million for the creation of an independent
10-person commission, whose members would be appointed by the House and
Senate leaders of both parties and by the president. The group would
have one year to prepare and submit a “comprehensive review” of US drug
policies in the hemisphere, including recommendations on tackling both
supply and demand.

The congressional effort comes as key officials in President Barack
Obama’s administration, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and
drug czar Gil Kerlikowske, have indicated the United States is prepared
to shoulder a greater responsibility for the hemisphere’s drug problem
by doing more to reduce domestic demand.

Engel said current US drug policy in the region has lacked coordination,
especially at the State Department, where different personnel oversee
programs in Mexico and Central America, the Andean countries and the
Caribbean. He added that the Senate’s delay in confirming Arturo
Valenzuela as assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere
affairs means there’s “nobody there at the helm driving this policy.”
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) is blocking Valenzuela’s confirmation due to
his objections about the administration’s handling of the coup in
Honduras. “I think what Sen. DeMint is doing is unconscionable,” Engel
said. “If you care about policy in Honduras or anyplace else, holding up
[the assistant secretary] or the ambassador to Brazil doesn’t shift that
policy one iota.”

As talks to resolve the Honduran crisis continued in Tegucigalpa, Engel
said he hoped ousted President Manuel Zelaya and Honduras’ de facto
leader, Roberto Micheletti, would be able to reach a compromise allowing
for “free and fair elections” in November, which could be recognized by
the international community. “I don’t want to think about what if we
have a stalemate. I would … hope that both sides would understand the
bottom line is not either side; the bottom line is Honduras and the
people of Honduras,” he said.

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