War on Drugs increases violence and crime: study

WARNING: DISTRESSING IMAGES BELOW

Canadian academics have reviewed 15 major studies into the effects of anti-drug policing and report that 13 of them found that drug law enforcement generated worse crime and violence.

The Independent reports: "The study by the Canada-based International Centre for Science in Drug Policy (ICSDP) found that heavy-handed tactics, ranging from attempts by the American-sponsored Colombian armed forces to eradicate drug cartels to the arrest of dealers in Sydney, had led to increases in violence. Often, this violence is fuelled by criminals arming themselves to profit from price rises caused by seizures of drugs or the dismantling by police of dealing networks."

And: "The study, which highlights the drug-related violence gripping Mexico as an example of the vicious circle fuelled by crackdowns, said researchers in Florida had recorded a five-fold increase in violence and property crime linked to drug arrests."

Full study pdf here: http://uhri.cfenet.ubc.ca/images/Documents/violence-eng.pdf

Of course ex-US drug czar John Walters denies all this, saying in The Washington Post that most of the violence is criminals killing each other so that's OK. Except for the truckie killed by a stray bikie's bullet in Sydney recently, and the thousands of police killed or injured in the Mexican drug wars... except for them, Mr Walters.

Some shocking and graphic pictures of a drug bust in Mexico recently supplied to this blog show the reality of this violence as people are being massacred with no arrest or trial. The US Drug czars believe this is what "success" looks like, a very strange and worrying mindset.

Warning: the following images are violent and distressing. However it is sometimes only by showing such images that the reality of a violent policy can be brought home. All prohibitionists to some extent share responsibility for this bloodshed, which is ironic as so many of the extreme drug warriors profess to be Christians.

Top picture: From the Canadian study

PS: The World Today on ABC Radio interviewed the lead author of the study.