In recent years a number of reform-minded policymakers have spoken out about the counterproductive nature of the certification policy and the need to reevaluate it. Let your members of Congress know how you feel about certification. You can use the sample letter below as a basis for your own letter or for talking points if you d like to give your representative or senators a call. When US-sponsored programs decrease drug production and trafficking in one area, it just pops up somewhere else. Certification is counterproductive because, instead of generating cooperation, it creates friction between the US and the very countries we must work with to create an effective drug control policy.
Certification sends the wrong message to governments in Latin America.
It is leverage used by the US to ensure other governments adopt a US-style, militarized war on drugs. In Latin America, this strategy has contributed to serious human rights abuses. It is time for our government to reevaluate its approach to international drug control policy. The devastation wrought by drug abuse and the drug trade merits real solutions. I urge you to support measures to overturn the certification policy, and open the door to an honest discussion of current US drug control strategies and the negative impact they have on our society s health and welfare.