Prohibition Hurts Prosperity

The human costs, including loss of liberty and the direct monetary support of drug prohibition are widely recognized, however, hidden economic damage also occurs. Take the case of Mexico which seemed poised to take off economically in the 1990s but failed to achieve the expected results. In his analysis of the Mexican disappointment Alvaro Vargas Llosa suggests that that country’s so vigorous pursuit of drug control could be a partial reason for their financial shortfall. He contends that Mexican President Felipe Calderon “made what a large number of his Mexican supporters think was a colossal mistake in devoting to the drug war the energy and resources that he should have committed to completing the truncated reforms. The evidence indicates that the drug cartels are simply shifting some of their operations to Central America while continuing to corrupt the Mexican institutions and suck the blood out of an administration consumed by the struggle with the enemy it has picked.”

Whatever the true economic costs of the Mexican drug war, it is clear that human costs have become enormous. In its weekly update of the situation, which includes an astonishing day by day accounting, the Drug War Chronicle reports that death toll for 2009 has just surpassed 6000.

Cross posted on The Trebach Report