International drug policy has become absurd: it’s time world leaders abandoned their futile pursuit of a drug-free world

ELEVEN years ago, the UN pledged to win the war on drugs within a decade. It has failed.

At this year’s meeting of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs, held in Vienna in March, there was a two-day session to evaluate the progress since 1998. In his opening remarks, the head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Antonio Maria Costa, claimed “measurable progress”. The drug problem has been “contained”, he said, and drug use has “stabilised”.

Costa’s position flies in …