America's harsh prohibitionist drug policies are grounded in the premise that the prohibited substances have little or no redeeming value and cannot be used without life-destroying consequences.

美国严厉的禁止毒品政策的前提是被禁止的物质几乎没有可取的价值并且在不会带来伤害生命的情况下也不可以使用。

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Yet the idea goes against decades of the prohibitionist policy backed by the United States, which is largely followed and enforced in Latin America and the Caribbean.

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According to Mr Miron at Harvard University, the US has historically been the most prohibitionist of any major country.

BBC: US cannabis vote reignites call to legalise drugs

An example of a prohibitionist model is the recording industry shutting down file-sharing to reign in intellectual property.

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