Cato Conference: Ending the Global War on Drugs

On Tuesday, November 15, Cato will be hosting a day‐​long drug policy conference on Ending the Global War on Drugs. This issue, which has always been a crucial part of libertarian thought, has picked up wider support in recent decades. More and more people are realizing two fundamental truths about the war on drugs: 1) that the government has no place in deciding what you are or are not allowed to put in your body, and 2) that, even if it did, the costs associated with prohibition are, well, prohibitively high.


One of these costs, the effect that drug prohibition has had on South America and Mexico, will be highlighted at the November conference. Fernando Henrique Cardoso, the former President of Brazil, Luis Alberto Lacalle Pou, the Speaker of the House of Deputies in Uruguay, and Jorge Castañeda, former Minister of Foreign Affairs in Mexico, will all be on hand to discuss the effects of prohibition in their home countries.


The conference also features Glenn Greenwald, prominent Salon blogger and civil libertarian, as well as the author of one of our most‐​cited white papers, Drug Decriminalization in Portugal: Lessons for Creating Fair and Successful Drug Policies. It should be a fantastic event. For those who may still be on the fence about ending drug prohibition, I advise taking a look at LearnLiberty’s excellent new video featuring Dr. Stephen Davies: