Resolved: America Should Legalize Drugs

DEBATE
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
4:00 PM (Reception To Follow)

Featuring Jeffrey Miron, Senior Fellow, Cato Institute; and Robert DuPont, M.D., President, Institute for Behavior and Health.

The Cato Institute
1000 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001

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Forty years ago this month, President Richard Nixon launched a "war against drugs." It has turned out to be America's longest war; and yet the policy is not seriously debated by members of Congress. More than $1 trillion has been spent on the war effort — police, prosecutors, and prisons — but the black market trade is thriving as never before. Tens of millions of Americans break the law and use drugs each year. Clearly, these are not the results that were expected in 1971. Is it now fair to compare the drug war to our disastrous experience with alcohol prohibition and confess the error? Join us for a debate on this hotly contested subject.

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