Six Decades of the War on Drugs: What Strategies Actually Work?
A comprehensive analysis of the long-running War on Drugs, examining the successes and failures of various approaches over the past six decades to determine what policies and tactics have proven most effective.
For over six decades, governments around the world have waged a costly and often controversial War on Drugs. From harsh crackdowns on drug production and trafficking to demand-reduction efforts focused on prevention and treatment, policymakers have implemented a wide range of strategies in their attempts to curb the global drug trade and its associated harms. But with illicit drug use and overdose deaths still at alarming levels in many countries, the critical question remains: what approaches have actually been effective?
The origins of the modern War on Drugs can be traced back to the 1960s, when President Lyndon B. Johnson first used the term and devoted significant federal resources to combating the growing drug problem in the United States. Over the following decades, successive administrations – both Democratic and Republican – have continued to ramp up the offensive, with President Richard Nixon formally declaring a
Source: The New York Times
