​On Thursday, the former presidents of several countries, former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz, former U.S. Fed Chairman Paul Volcker and other luminaries will release a new report calling the global “War On Drugs” a failure, and encouraging nations to pursue legalizing and regulating drugs as a way to stop the violence inherent in the illegal drug market.

The 24-page paper, by the Global Commission on Drug Policy, argues that the decades-old “global war on drugs has failed, with devastating consequences for individuals and societies around the world.” “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.





Law Enforcement Against Prohbition (LEAP) , a group of police, prosecutors and judges who have waged the “Drug War” on its front lines, is cheering the report and its conclusions.

“It’s no longer a question of whether legalizing drugs is a serious topic of debate for serious people,” said Neill Franklin, LEAP’s executive director and a 34-year veteran police officer from Baltimore, Maryland. “These former presidents and other international leaders have placed drug legalization squarely on the table as an important solution that policymakers need to consider.

​”As a narcotics cop on the streets, I saw how the prohibition approach not only doesn’t reduce drug abuse but how it causes violence and crime that affect all citizens and taxpayers, whether they use drugs or not,” Franklin said.

The former Presidents of Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Switzerland, and the Prime Minister of Greece will be among the world leaders calling for a paradigm shift in global drug policy. Some of the world leaders who signed on to the Global Commission on Drug Policy’s report will speak at a press conference and teleconference on Thursday: When: Thursday, June 2, 11 a.m. (EST) Where: The Waldorf Astoria Hotel, 301 Park Avenue, New York, N.Y. (Beekman Suite) USA Telephone: 1-800-311-9404 (Password: Global Commission) From Outside USA: 1-334-323-7224 (Password: Global Commission) The full report will be available at www.globalcommissionondrugs.org