It should not come as a surprise that with the United States of America opposed to legalising illicit drugs, the just concluded Sixth Summit of the Americas in Colombia has failed to achieve any progress in what remains a most daunting challenge for nations of the Caribbean and Latin America.
Prior to Sunday’s conclusion of the two-day hemispheric event, President Barack Obama was firm in contending that legalising drugs “is not the answer” to the problems resulting from narco-trafficking in this region.
The president’s position was more a direct response to Latin American leaders, who favour legalisation in the context of new and realistic approaches to arrest the hugely costly “war on drugs”.
Their generally shared contention is that current strategies in the enormous battle against the drug trade have failed.
Mr Obama himself would be aware that the United States is still viewed as the leading consumer of illegal drugs and an identified primary source for both human trafficking and gun-running affecting countries in this hemisphere.
It would, therefore, become increasingly difficult for his own nation, as the dominant partner in hemispheric relations, to remain inflexible to the growing calls for new strategies in the battle against narco-trafficking to achieve the called for “security for prosperity” that was a major focus of the summit.
Governments in the Caribbean, not faced with the immense challenges of Latin American nations battling the feared drug cartels, could perhaps inform themselves about the findings of leading medical institutions in the US on the medicinal value of cocaine and marijuana. Both are causing very serious problems as illegal drugs for law enforcing agencies in CARICOM.
This sensitising educational approach should also be considered within the context of penal reform, an issue that is in urgent need of revisiting by governments and regional institutions in the face of overcrowded prisons that include many inmates serving sentences for possession of even small quantities of marijuana or cocaine.
Often young offenders, the way forward for them should not be lengthy imprisonment but, according to penal reform advocates, non-custodial sentences with emphasis on doing community service. This approach could prove a useful alternative with hopes of rehabilitation and, simultaneously, reduction in prison service expenditures.
It is felt by sociologists, medical professionals and penal reform specialists that there needs to be a thorough and urgent review of the region’s collaborative efforts in battling the narco-trafficking challenge outside of a traditional leadership dependency on foreign funding partners with different priorities and perspectives.
Will it happen?
