Drug Czar’s arbitrary victory claims getting some press skepticism

A reported increase in cocaine prices has naturally caused the Drug Czar to step forward and claim victory in the war on drugs and in the Colombian fiasco in particular.
But while this Knight-Ridder story, picked up by a ton of papers, repeats Walters’ bragging, it also gives the other side, with an overall sense that it’s too early to tell if this means anything.
And the Reuters article quotes Ethan in response:

One prominent critic said cocaine was still cheap and the rise in the price this year was insignificant.

“It would be pure nonsense to point to this recent blip as evidence of success of U.S. international drug policies. The effective price is still just a small fraction of the price 10 and 20 years ago,” said Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance.

If it wasn’t for the increase in efforts by a wide range of drug policy reformers showing the failures of Plan Colombia, the press would now be reporting Walters words without a rebuttal.
Little steps.

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