Opinions - Ethan Nadelmann on the Motivations Behind U.S. Drug Policy

[Expat98]

I'm sure most of you have heard of Ethan Nadelmann, the director of the Drug Policy Alliance (an organization working for drug policy reform). This week in Mexico he was at a conference opposing Plan Merida, the U.S. $1.4 billion anti-drug package proposed to "aid" Mexico. (See this thread and this one.)

I just ran across something he said at the conference:

"It's easy to believe that American drug policy with respect to Mexico is primarily to advance American political, military, and economic interests, or that the real intention is to humiliate Mexico. I think that's mostly false," he said. "What we are seeing is simply the international projection of our domestic psychosis. We are crazy when it comes to drugs, and Mexico must be swept up. It isn't rational, and it doesn't advance our national interest. Our interest is in peace, security, and open markets, and the American drug war does not serve those interests. Our craziness undermines us," he argued.

I disagree with Mr. Nadelmann and think that American political, military, and economic interests are largely the motivations behind U.S. drug policies, e.g., as laid out by Noam Chomsky here. Actually, I think they're both right - the drug war is motivated by both misguided good intentions and political/economic interests. But if I had to say which of these factors played the most important role in the drug war, I'd say it's the latter.

Anyway, I thought I'd post this because Nadelmann is a pretty big player in the drug reform movement, so I thought his views on this were interesting.