Drugs, Tsars and Economic Development

It seems that America names a Tsar whenever we decide to focus on a policy problem, as though that title is associated with effective policies which are well administered. The appointment of a drug Tsar, the implicit policies that are associated with the War on Drugs, and the political environment that spawned these policy initiatives yield an interesting story about misguided public policy dominated by unintended secondary effects. Drug policy reveals much about the paralysis of public policy in contemporary America and, more specifically to our purpose here, suggests why it is so difficult to generate a serious local or regional development policy. It also suggests important directions for future research.