Moms United to Reform Drug Policy

A cross-country tour that began on the Mexican border arrived today on Olvera Street in downtown Los Angeles. Mexican poet Javier Sicilia is leading a caravan to Washington, calling attention to the billions of dollars spent annually on the so-called “war on drugs,” with no evidence of any lasting effect on either supply or demand. In Mexico, the death toll from President Calderon’s battles with drug cartels is more than 50,000. In the US, as LA Times columnist Steve Lopez points out, there are tens of thousands lost every year, “to addiction, prison and death by overdose.”