Well this is fun – the Global Commission on Drug Policy has released a report stating that the ‘war on drugs’ has failed. Like Dame Judi Dench and Sting, the 19-member panel – which includes Sir Richard Branson, Kofi Annan and former leaders of Brazil and Mexico – is urging for the decriminalization of drugs. The USA is not amused.
Despite the USA and Mexico (both politically and financially invested in the so-called war) rejecting the report as misguided, some pretty strong claims are made about how the current anti-drug policies have led to the expansion of organized crime, cost millions of tax dollars, and are directly responsible for thousands of deaths.
From the report:
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.
[Source: BBC]
