One of the prevailing ideas is to question if the war on drugs is morally valid, from the perspective of whether it is truly attaining results and also of whether consumers are really doing harm to others and to themselves than those who pursue and stigmatize them. The Atlantic’s "The War on Drugs Is Far More Immoral Than Most Drug Use” by Conor Friedersdorf deals with this subject matter.
The House I Live In is the new documentary, directed by Eugene Jarecki and produced by Brad Pitt and David Simon (of The Wire fame), which won the grand prize at Sundance this year, opens up the discussion again. A text by Brad Pitt and another one by David Simon were published on The Guardian.
Finally, I attach a segment of The Colbert Report criticizing the war on drugs in its own ironic manner and a video of a retired police officer arguing against the war on drugs, who does appeal to the lives that have been lost south of the border.
Unfortunately little is being said about the violent consequences for Mexico, or any other Latin American country for that matter. Nevertheless, a change in drug policy in the United States would mean a diminution of the political and social turbulence in the rest of the American continent. Possibly more of these materials like these will emerge on mainstream media outlets.
Article on The Atlantic:
David Simon's interview:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/mar/30/david-simon-americas-war-on-drugs?CMP=twt_gu
Brad Pitt's article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/30/brad-pitt-war-drugs-failure?CMP=twt_gu
Bit from the Colbert Report:
Retired police officer's testimony:
