Posted by
Rocky Mountain Foundation on Wednesday, March 25, 2009 11:40:17 AM
Jeffrey A. Miron, senior lecturer in economics at Harvard University, discusses the consequences of America's unlearned Prohibition lessons.
"The U.S. and Mexican responses to [Mexican drug cartel] violence have been predictable: more troops and police, greater border controls and expanded enforcement of every kind. Escalation is the wrong response, however; drug prohibition is the cause of the violence. ... It is impossible to reconcile respect for individual liberty with drug prohibition. The U.S. has been at the forefront of this puritanical policy for almost a century, with disastrous consequences at home and abroad."