The New York Times editorial board has finally noticed that nations around the world and even in the western hemisphere are reforming their drug policies. The call for a broad global debate over the UN drug control conventions is growing, along with international popular resistance to the counterproductive and archaic prohibitionist policies that have been pushed for so long by the US and a small handful of other nations.
As stated in the Times editorial:
"In recent years, that top-bottom approach has been upended as countries in the region have begun to develop new strategies to fight drug trafficking and discourage the use of narcotics. The initiatives that are being discussed and applied represent a welcome break with the largely failed traditional approach, which has emphasized prohibition and punishment."
While the NY Times still seems to believe that realpolitik will stand in the way of reform, even that paragon of the status quo has been forced to concede that the potential for change exists:
"While a broadly accepted regional approach remains a distant goal in a politically diverse hemisphere with many strained relationships, the present conversations offer considerable hope. Washington has started doing more listening then lecturing, in large part as a result of the domestic debate about the legalization of marijuana and sentencing reform for drug crimes."