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Substance Abuse
Fifty years of enforcement-based interventions to create "a drug-free world,"
at a cost of at least $100 billion a year, have brought about a variety of unintended consequences, including the creation of enormous criminal enterprises; changes in drug use, production, and trafficking routes; the diversion of resources from treatment to enforcement; and the increased marginalization of people who use drugs, a report from Count the Costs argues. The report, The Alternative World Drug Report: Counting the Costs of the War on Drugs (112 pages, PDF), also argues that the so-called war on drugs has undermined sovereign economies, international development, and global security; increased deforestation and pollution; enriched criminal gangs and corrupt politicians; undermined public health and human rights protections; and increased anti-immigrant sentiment. Funded by the Open Society Foundations, the report calls for the adoption of alternative science-driven frameworks in the war on drugs, including more holistic health-based approaches and the decriminalization of personal possession.
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