Against the Tide, by Lincoln Chafee: on Drugs

Lincoln Chafee: I doubt our culture would allow legalizing hard drugs

President Batlle advocated the libertarian approach: legalize drugs to reduce their street value and put the cartels out of business, then regulate and tax those drugs as we do tobacco and alcohol. I doubt that our culture would allow that. Most Americans do not want heroin and crack cocaine sold on store shelves as if they were no more addictive or dangerous than cigarettes and alcohol.

We will probably have this debate in the US, but not because Latin America is having it. The debate will come when we can no longer avoid confronting the destabilizing heroin trade in Afghanistan.

At some point we will have to acknowledge that our new democratic ally in the war on terror is on the opposite side in our war on drugs.