#194 United States Drug Policy Toward Latin America: The Report of the Inter-American Commission on Drug Policy

By Peter H. Smith, Paul H. Boeker, Mevlyn Levitsky, and Mark Kleinman

From the Introduction

On 11 June 1991, the Inter-American Commission on Drug Policy released in Washington, D.C., a report, "Seizing Opportunities: Report of the Inter-American Commission on Drug Policy." The report, which was critical of U.S. and Latin American antidrug efforts, was the work of the highestlevel private policy group ever to consider an overall strategy for the hemispheric struggle against illicit narcotics. That same day, the Latin American Program, launching a major inter-American tour to publicize the commission's work, sponsored a seminar on the report's findings.

The Latin American Program's afternoon semmar was cosponsored by the Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies at the University of California, San Diego, and the Institute of the Americas. Peter H. Smith, director of the center, provided a background introduction. Ambassador Paul H. Boeker, president of the institute, then discussed the report's policy recommendations. Melvyn Levitsky, Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics Matters, and Mark Kleiman, a fellow and lecturer m public policy at Harvard University's Center for International Affairs and author of the forthcoming book, Choosing a Drug Problem, provided their reactions to the report and participated subsequently in the lively discussion.