Eternal Hope: America's International Narcotics Efforts

摘要

Throughout the twentieth century, the government of the United States has maintained that the solution to the American drug abuse problem lies in the hands of the foreign nations that produce the most important illicit drugs. The failures of U.S. international programs are not the result of incompetence or inadequate resources; they are inherent in the structure of the problem. The producer countries jointly lack either the motivation or the means to reduce total population. Even if control were possible, it is likely that U.S. imports from each of these countries, apart from Mexico and Turkey, are very insensitive to changes in output. Just as importantly, the set of source countries is readily expandable. The international programs serve a useful function in curbing illicit drug use in some major source countries. But they will do little to reduce drug abuse in the United States.