US The US spends $1,400 a second in the war on drugs, according to a recent Harvard study, while the savings and revenue that could be generated by legalising narcotics would equal a 10th of President Barack Obama’s fiscal stimulus plan.
With neighbouring Mexico descending towards the status of a narco-state and with US jails crammed with small-time drug offenders, experts in the field have launched a debate on whether a 40-year crackdown, and the more than $1,000bn (€773bn, £716bn) spent on it, has had any impact on narcotics abuse or on the violent trade that feeds it.
