by Ethan Nadelmann

About the author: Ethan Nadelmann is the director of the Lindesmith Center, a drug-policy research institute in New York City.

There is a growing drug policy reform movement in the United States. Although few agree upon which aspect of the war on drugs is most disgraceful, or on which alternative to our current policies is most desirable, we do agree on the following: the “war on drugs” has failed to accomplish its stated objectives, and it cannot succeed so long as the U.S. remains a free society; the prohibitionist approach to drug control is responsible for most of the ills commonly associated with America’s “drug problem”; and some measure of legal availability and regulation is essential if we are to reduce significantly the negative consequences...