William Brownfield is a highly skilled diplomat who now serves as the Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement: i.e., as the State Department’s chief drug warrior. In advance of the release this Friday of the OAS report on alternative drug strategies for the hemisphere, Brownfield gave an interview to El Tiempo of Bogotá. Asked about legalization in general, he denounced the legalization of “cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, synthetic drugs” as a red line no country wants to cross.”
Note what’s missing from that list? If this were a politician I might imagine mere oversight, but Brownfield didn’t get where he is by making rookie mistakes.
It’s possible that the smart drug warriors have begun to decide that the Battle of Cannabis is lost, and are attempting to fall back to a more defensible position.
In the words of our esteemed Vice President, this is a BFD.