NCJ Number
126569
Journal
Vanderbilt Law Review Volume: 43 Issue: 4 Dated: (May 1990) Pages: 1259-1309
Date Published
1990
Length
51 pages
Annotation
This article describes and critiques the U.S. supply-side drug enforcement policy that involves the "force draft" of foreign countries to fight the drug war on their own soil to prevent drugs from reaching the United States.
Abstract
After reviewing the U.S. supply-side, bilateral enforcement policy, the article provides an overview of the U.S. aid leveraging system and the major bilateral control programs, such as the militarization of law enforcement, prosecution of foreign traffickers in the United States, and crop eradication. The overview analyzes the legal and extralegal arguments raised by foreign countries against the programs and the diplomatic tactics used by the United States. The article concludes that many of the diplomatic tactics and the programs they support have been counterproductive and that no amount of supply-side law enforcement will prevent drugs from entering the United States. The article proposes that an alternative U.S. drug control policy must be premised on three assumptions: demand-side control must be the cornerstone; supply-side control should be achieved by restructuring the economies of drug-producing nations; and more resources must be allocated to drug control. 299 footnotes