You're cherry-picking Portugal and Singapore, but those are outliers, not proof the war on drugs works. Portugal's success came from decriminalization—essentially abandoning the war model. Singapore's tiny, authoritarian, and not comparable to the U.S. or Mexico. Meanwhile, look at the big picture: since the 1970s, we've spent over a trillion dollars on drug enforcement. Yet overdose deaths hit 100,000 in 2021. Cartels are more powerful than ever. The black market thrives. We've filled prisons with nonviolent offenders—disproportionately Black and Brown—without making a dent in supply. That's not a funding problem. That's a broken strategy. If your system requires perfect execution to not be a catastrophe, it's a failure.
05:33 PM