War on drugs

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      Aid cutbacks leave bitter taste in war on cocaine

      Posted by Billbar from The Standard

      As part of the US strategy to win over coca growers, almost 20 percent of annual assistance is devoted to nonmilitary social programs and development projects. Managing this "soft side" of diplomacy is USAID, whose mission in Colombia is its biggest in the hemisphere. But under the agency's new five-year US$350 million plan for development projects, Caqueta and four other Amazonian states where coca production is rising won't receive a penny. "It makes no sense for residents of a historical guerrilla stronghold to be subjected to a strategy of all stick and no carrot - combats, mass arrests, searches and fumigation, but no aid," said Adam Isacson, an analyst at the Washington-based Center for International Policy.

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      The needle and the damage undone

      Posted by Billbar from Salon

      Three years ago, Vancouver opened a bold new front in the eternal war on drugs. In a downtown neighborhood notorious for street addicts, healthcare workers began welcoming clients into a new "safe injection site," a legal facility for users of illegal narcotics such as heroin and cocaine. The Insite program has saved hundreds of lives. It has wiped away much of the drug use in the surrounding streets, while increasing the number of addicts seeking treatment and rehabilitation. Some local conservatives, once fierce opponents of the injection site, are now backing it. And supporters believe the site's success will prove a beachhead for a less punitive and more humane war on drugs extending across Canada -- and even to drug-troubled cities south of the Canadian border.

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