This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Friday, May 24th, 2013.

I'm Caleb Brown.

A new report from the Organization of American States makes clear that the United States,

the biggest customer for illicit drugs, is also the biggest

supporter of prohibition. As for the rest of the Americas, the realization that the drug

war isn't working is becoming increasingly clear.

Juan Carlos Hidalgo, the Project Coordinator for Latin America at the Cato Institute, comments.

Last year, the Organization of American States received a mandate from the 34 heads of state and government of the Western Hemisphere

to produce a report on the future of drug policy in the Americas.

Prior to the summit, let's remember that some presidents such as Guatemala's

Otto Perez Molina and Colombia's one-mano-Eel-Santos had expressed their frustration with the current approach to drug policy,

and even the President of Guatemala said that legalization was the most viable option to defeat narco trafficking in the region.

So this report was prepared and was published last week and I think it's a very important

document because it lays out four different scenarios for the future of

drug policy in the Americas.

Now it doesn't make any recommendations though.

It lays out four scenarios under which drug policy might be changed or stay the same, but it doesn't offer

recommendations.

Indeed, we have to know and we have to be aware that there's no consensus on where drug policy should be headed in the future.

At least in the Americas, you have countries that definitely are committed to prohibition,

some other countries that are more skeptical of the current approach and some other countries

that are actually even experimented already with legalization of certain drugs.

...