News » War on Drugs a Failure, Global Commission on Drug Policy Finds

The Global Commission on Drug Policy released a new report highlighting their findings regarding the effectiveness of the “war on drugs”, and the conclusion is that it has been a complete failure.

While other groups have made similar findings, this particular panel is of note because it includes past presidents of Mexico, Columbia and Brazil, a past U.S. Secretary of State and U.N. Secretary General and a many other former prominent political figures.

The full roster of the commission an its charter can be found here http://www.globalcommissionondrugs.org/Commission.

Unsurprisingly, the commission determined that the effort was largely a waste of time, and an expensive one at that both in terms of money and human life. Since President Calderon of Mexico declared war on the drug cartels in that country, approximately 38,000 people have died in the ensuing violence. Billions of dollars have been spent worldwide, largely to no effect.

Getting to the point immediately, the report starts with “The global drug war has failed, with devastating consequences for individuals and societies around the world. … Fundamental reforms in national and global drug control policies are urgently needed.”

Legalization of marijuana was advocated largely based around an external independent study which found that marijuana provided less of a social risk than both alcohol and tobacco.

Both the Unite States and Mexican governments dismissed the reports findings.

“Making drugs more available – as this report suggests – will make it harder to keep our communities healthy and safe,” the White House said.

[source Global Commission on Drug Policy]

Tags: Global Commission on Drug Policy, legalization, marijuana, war on drugs