The War on Drugs Part 2: The International Context

Let's continue or discussion on the Resolution: This House would end the War on Drugs. Now that we've talked about the national implications, let's talk about the international consequences.

Arguments For:


  • The United Nations' drug strategy of the past 10 years has been a failure, according to a major report by the International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC), which has called for a major rethinking of global policy on illegal narcotics.The report claims that UN efforts to eliminate the illegal drug market by 2019 through a "war on drugs" approach has had scant effect on global supply while having negative effects on health, human rights, security and development.
  • According to the report, drug-related deaths have increased by 145% over the last decade, with more than 71,000 overdose deaths in the United States in 2017 alone. At least 3,940 people were executed for drug offenses around the world over the last 10 years, while drug crackdowns in the Philippines resulted in around 27,000 extrajudicial killings.
  • The US has financially supported burning campaigns of rural towns and allowed the Latin American countries to kill their citizens without due process. 

Arguments Against: 


  • This was the case in the 1980s and 1990s with coca production in Peru, Colombia and Bolivia and with opium production in Burma and Afghanistan. The resilience of the global drug market has led to drug trafficking becoming the world’s primary revenue source for organized crime and the illicit drug industry now accounts for an estimated $320 billion dollars annually.
  • This money funds crimes like human trafficking and terrorism. Throughout the entire region, in both drug production and trafficking areas, there has been an upsurge of violence, corruption, impunity, erosion of rule of law, and human rights violations caused by the emergence of powerful organized crime groups and drug cartels.
  • Mexico’s drug war has turned incredibly violent in recent years, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths. Law enforcement attempts to put cartels out of business by arresting key figures have led not to the demise of the drug trade, but to bloody struggles for control. With prohibition propping up drug prices, it is inevitable that the drug trade will continue, no matter how risky or violent it gets.
  • Central America is now home to some of the world’s most dangerous cities, with the highest global homicide rate found in Honduras, at 82.1 murders per 100,000 inhabitants. The region has become unsafe for human rights defenders and journalists that expose the violence; for politicians and security officials that refuse to be corrupted by drug trafficking groups; and, most of all, for its citizens that get caught in crossfire between rivaling gangs.
  • Communities rely on money from the US to protect them against violent drug gangs. Pulling out funding will destroy these communities. 

Reading List:

International Drug War: Covers the Role the US plays in the Drug War, great article for opposition arguments.
Global War on Drugs has been a complete failure: UN report that shows the harmful international consequences.
Mexico's War on Drugs: Nice summary of on going efforts in Mexico.

Documentaries: 

How Columbia's War on Drugs Escalated to a Full Blown Civil War -- Short, but fantastic documentary that shows how the War on Drugs has resulted in the destabilization of Columbia. This documentary is a must watch for anyone that wants to understand how national drug policies affect the international community.

Cartel Land -- This documentary examines the drug problem on the US/Mexico border. Personally, I thought that the documentary was over dramatized and it was not a very good source of information.

Breaking the Taboo -- Fantastic documentary from Brazil's perspective on the war on drugs. It explores the ways that the War on Drugs has failed and destroyed lives. I loved this documentary and would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about the war on drugs.

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