Failed "War on Drugs" Prompts Policy Innovations in Latin America to Safeguard Public Health and Safety http://www.wola.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=viewp&id=1097&Itemid=8

Today, despite a world-wide drug control treaty system and decades of massive investments to attack drug production and curtail supplies and consumption, illicit drug markets and criminal networks are flourishing, threatening public health and safety."The costly effort to curtail drug availability that has defined global drug policy for decades has failed in its own terms, and has generated enormous suffering along the way,"

"Even as prisons across the Americas are overflowing with small-scale dealers and non-violent offenders, drugs themselves remain readily available and powerful criminal leaders continue to flourish," said Pien Metaal, drug policy expert at TNI. "The reforms underway in the region aim to focus enforcement against the big trafficker, instead of low-level offenders."

comment-also see... The U.S., Mexico, and the Drug War Scam http://theragblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/john-ross-us-mexico-and-drug-war-scam.html  The never-ending drug war http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/43656 U.S. Aid from Foreign Military Financing, Entire Region, 2006-2011 http://justf.org/Program?program=Foreign_Military_Financing

The U.S./Bolivia Drug Show http://democracyctr.org/blog/2010/03/usbolivia-drug-show.html carlos_da_mackeral: Is the CIA behind Mexico's Bloody Drug War?by Mike Whitney http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=18877 "Obama's Role in the Militarization of Mexico http://americas.irc-online.org/am/6635

also see...this is from 2 days ago...Third U.S.-SICA Dialogue on Security http://justf.org/node/929  Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Arturo Valenzuela will lead the U.S. delegation to the third U.S.-SICA[1] Dialogue on Security, May 6 and 7, 2010 in Panama City, Panama. The Dialogue will focus on advancing concrete and practical collaborative measures to combat criminal gangs, narco-trafficking, illicit trafficking of arms and other threats to citizen safety in Central America.  

The following states and organizations have been invited to attend as observers and assist the Dialogue in order to contribute to the common security goals in the region: Colombia, Canada, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Spain, the European Union, the Organization of American States (OAS), the Inter-American Committee Against Terrorism (CICTE), the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD), the Organization of American States/Department of Public Security (OAS/DPS), the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and the World Bank.