We Affirm Contention 1 is Psychedelics Barker-16 defines psychedelics as
Reestablishing Latin American relations by affirming has two key impacts
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- These relationships should be strengthened, not poisoned. As
| Reestablishing Latin American relations by affirming has two key impacts
The First is Alliances Fox-21 Collin Fox xx, xx-xx-xxxx, "Kill the Drug War: Death, Decisions, and the Limits of Military Power," War on the Rocks, https://warontherocks.com/2021/02/kill-the-drug-war-death-decisions-and-the-limits-of-military-power///IB These relationships should be strengthened, not poisoned. As the global security environment degrades into multipolarity, and traditional allies with stagnating demographics suffer a declining share of global power, the United States should diversify its partnerships to help balance China’s assertive rise. Although the entire hemispheric neighborhood is important, Mexico and Colombia merit particular attention. Mexico has a larger economy than South Korea, and will surpass France and the United Kingdom in economic size around 2030. Colombia’s smaller but rapidly growing economy now exceeds South Africa’s. These Pacific-facing, maritime democratic powers have a combined population exceeding Russia’s, and both Mexico and Colombia (a current treaty ally) have fought and bled alongside the United States in the Indo-Pacific theater. Today, however, both partners fight persistent and well-funded criminal insurgencies within their own borders. U.S. drug prohibition creates just enough scarcity for criminal organizations to reap incredible profits and fund these wanton insurgencies, even as this strategy fails to restrict widespread drug availability. Respected leaders from Mexico and Colombia know this interminable struggle all too well. In his 2016 Nobel Lecture, President Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia argued that “the manner in which this war against drugs is being waged is equally or perhaps even more harmful than all the wars the world is fighting today, combined. It is time to change our strategy.” The Organization of American States presented a range of policy options, including decriminalization and legalization, in its 2013 report on the drug problem in the Americas. Vicente Fox, former president of Mexico, called for the legalization of all drugs. Allies matter now more than ever in recent memory, and they should not be conspicuously alienated for the sake of a mission that has always been a fool’s errand. Formerly circumspect American voters increasingly agree with Shultz, Santos, and Fox. Such a policy shift would help defund organized crime from Colombia to Mexico. Though no panacea, this would help make these regional powers into potentially more effective partners, while also ameliorating the horrific violence that pushes waves of migrants from Central America. Decades of militarized counter-narcotics efforts demonstrate that even the most brilliant application of overwhelming force cannot redeem flawed strategy. As the international security environment continues to degrade, the United States should preserve its military instruments for truly military challenges, stabilize the hemispheric neighborhood through policy rather than open-ended military deployments, and attract truly consequential allies. Killing the drug war would help accomplish all three. Download 45.04 Kb. Share with your friends:
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