A damning new report made by the Global Commission on Drug Policy and presented at the United Nations today declared the war on drugs a massive failure. The group, which includes prominent former heads of state and a former U.N. secretary-general, calls on governments to decriminalize marijuana and other controlled substances: "Political leaders and public figures should have the courage to articulate publicly what many of them acknowledge privately: that the evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that repressive strategies will not solve the drug problem, and that the war on drugs has not, and cannot, be won," the report said.
"Fifty years after the initiation of the UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, and 40 years after President (Richard) Nixon launched the US government's war on drugs, fundamental reforms in national and global drug control policies are urgently needed," the report states. Among their major recommendations are: end criminalization and stigmatization of people who use drugs but do not harm others; encourage governments to experiment with drug legalization, especially marijuana—they want the legal regulation to "undermine the power of organized crime and safeguard the health and security of their citizens."
"Decriminalization initiatives do not result in significant increases in drug use," the report said, citing policies in Australia, Holland and Portugal. They also recommend governments offer more harm reduction measures, such as access to syringes; and end "just say no" and "zero tolerance" policies for youth in favor of other educational efforts. "Let's start by treating drug addiction as a health issue, reducing drug demand through proven educational initiatives and legally regulating rather than criminalizing cannabis," the report states.
The 19-member commission includes former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and former U.S. official George P. Schultz, who held cabinet posts under U.S. Presidents Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon. Others include former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker, former Brazilian president Fernando Cardoso, former Colombian president Cesar Gaviria, Mexico's former president Ernesto Zedill, writers Carlos Fuentes and Mario Vargas Llosa, U.K. business mogul Richard Branson and the current prime minister of Greece, George Papandreou.
