GU’s Latin America Initiative Examines Illegal Drug Policy

Georgetown’s Latin America Initiative held an event on October 7 examining Latin American economic policy over the past two decades and its impact on the region’s development. The final discussion of the day, dubbed “Illegal Markets and Regulatory Alternatives,” examined the corruption and violence caused by illegal drug trafficking in Latin America and presented possible solutions. Launched in March 2016, the Latin America Initiative aims to strengthen the University’s engagement with Latin America through dialogue, featuring experts on the region from both the public and private sectors. The panel included Vidal Llerenas, a Mexican congressional representative, Joy Olson, Executive Director of the Washington Office on Latin America, Michael Collins, Deputy Director of the Drug Policy Alliance, and Fernanda Alonso of Georgetown University’s O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law.

Overall, the discussion stressed the importance of compassionate regulation focused on treating, rather than imprisoning, drug addicts. The panelists advocated for further legalization of marijuana in the United States in order to shrink the market for illegal drugs and reduce the stigma of drug use. Olson and Collins agreed that the Obama administration has shifted from the interventionism of the War on Drugs and allows Latin American countries to exercise more control over their own drug policies.

Although the panel presented marijuana legalization as a move in the right direction, Collins qualified the argument by stating it could not solve every problem stemming from the illegal drug trade.

The panelists listed many problems for which they had no solution. Llerenas criticized Mexico’s approach of imprisoning hundreds of thousands of people solely for illegal drug consumption. Alonso connected Latin American drug trafficking to lax oversight of the U.S. pharmaceutical industry, where over-prescription of drugs causes addiction. The panelists admitted marijuana legalization could cause drug cartels to shift to more violent sources of revenue.

Although much work remains, the group emphasized that U.S. and Latin American drug policies are improving, and that all future policies, as Olson stated, should create “the greatest good and least harm.”