How would you measure the success of the “War on Drugs?”

A DEA agent I know who has been fighting this “war” for more than 20 years has an answer: compare the quantity and price of drugs on the street now with the quantity and price of drugs on the street now. By this measure, he says, we’re failing: there’s more cocaine available no, at lower prices, than when he started.

He and I agree that this is a good reason to reconsider what we’re doing: I think we should legalize drugs; he thinks we should start executing drug dealers.

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