US policy and major interdiction efforts over the course of 15 years resulted in a decline of centrality and network size, which corresponds with a lengthening of average distance among members from 3.7 to 4.6.
But earlier in his piece, Mellman says that he was "personally chagrined" that people favored interdiction efforts over policies that favored treatment.
The Obama administration's Office of National Drug Control Policy has promised a "21st century" approach to drug policy, but the White House budget released earlier this month still prioritizes arrest and interdiction programs over treatment and prevention.
The mistaken downing of a small plane carrying a missionary family in Peru last month has intensified the debate over whether the United States has over-emphasized interdiction and investigation rather than prevention.
Tuesday night's election signaled a profound shift in the way many Americans are beginning to view drug policy, with voters favoring treatment and prevention over interdiction and incarceration.
For years, drug treatment experts have argued for more money to be spent on demand reduction over interdiction and enforcement, and for years, study after study has supported their argument that treatment is the most cost-effective approach to reducing drug use.
The most recent Director of National Drug Control Policy, Michael Botticelli, is in long term recovery, and instead of using the historic vernacular name for the post – "drug czar" ― he called himself the "recovery czar" as he advocated a national movement to nurture disease treatment over interdiction.
Take the case of Matt Lee, who in 2011 was pulled over by drug interdiction police in Nevada while on the last leg of a cross-country move from Michigan to California.
He explained his interdiction strategy, which relied on pulling over out-of-state cars for minor traffic violations, then looking for indicators of drug trafficking.
The drug bust took the form of a "highway interdiction operation," which involved police pulling people over for traffic offenses and being on the lookout for signs of drug-related activity, according to a press release from St . Lucie County SheriffKen Mascara.
