Daithí Doolan
The money used in the failed war on drugs could be better invested in treatment and rehabilitation services in the very communities being destroyed by these drug gangs
Is it time to call off the failed war on drugs?
Illegal drug trafficking is a multibillion euro business and business is growing fast. The facts are startling. According to a March 2017 Global Financial Integrity report, titled ‘Transnational Crime in the Developing World’, drug trafficking is worth between €360 billion and €551.9 billion annually. That is 1% of the world’s GDP. In comparison, the International Federation of Phonographic Industry’s latest global music report confirmed worldwide recorded music revenues totalled €17.7 billion last year. In other words, the illegal drug trade is over 20 times more valuable that the music industry. Ireland is not immune to this international trade. Irish criminal gangs are significant players in the business of smuggling drugs from around the world into Europe. This was confirmed in a recent interview by former Assistant Garda Commissioner Michael O’Sullivan with the Journal. ie. “Irish criminals are an integral part of organised crime anphoblacht UIMHIR EISIÚNA 3 - 2021 - ISSUE NUMBER 3
in Europe and they all know one another and they all do business with one another,” he said. This term ‘war on drugs’ was first used by US President Richard Nixon. He declared a war on drugs at a press conference in June 1971. He proclaimed that ‘drug abuse’ was ‘public enemy number one’. Nixon’s war on drugs was a campaign of prohibition of illicit drugs, military aid, and intervention with the aim being to reduce the illegal drug trade. Currently, the Drug Policy Alliance estimates that the United States spends $51 billion per year on these initiatives. But this ‘war’ was of course not just confined to the US. It impacted on government polices around the world. There was greater emphasis on the law and order approach to tackling drugs, rather than resourcing a public health response. This in turn has had a very negative impact on those who are addicted to drugs, their families, and the communities they live in. 55
