The global war on drugs has failed and decriminalizing narcotics such as marijuana could finally help weaken organized gangs, former world leaders said Thursday in a controversial report.
Arguing for a new approach to national and global drug control policies, the Global Commission on Drug Policy called for nations to "break the taboo on debate and reform."
"The global war on drugs has failed, with devastating consequences for individuals and societies around the world," the members of the commission said in the report released in New York.
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"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 commission includes former Brazilian president Fernando Cardoso, former Colombian president Cesar Gaviria, Mexico's former president Ernesto Zedillo as well as ex-UN chief Kofi Annan.
It also includes noted writers such as Mexico's Carlos Fuentes and Peruvian Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa.
The millions of dollars poured into the fight against drug producers and traffickers over the past decades "have clearly failed to effectively curtail supply or consumption," the report said.
"Apparent victories in eliminating one source or trafficking organization are negated almost instantly by the emergence of other sources and traffickers."
The group of prominent statesmen, many from countries on the frontline of the seemingly never-ending war on drugs, said purely punitive measures had in fact led to a situation where "the global scale of illegal drug markets -- largely controlled by organized crime -- has grown dramatically."
Repression of consumers such as jailing those found in possession of drugs were distracting from other public health measures, such as the battle against AIDS and HIV, it argued.
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Saying restrictions on marijuana should be loosened, the report urged governments to "end the criminalization, marginalization and stigmatization of people who use drugs but who do no harm to others."
"Encourage experimentation by governments with models of legal regulation of drugs to undermine the power of organized crime and safeguard the health and security of their citizens," it recommended.
"Decriminalization initiatives do not result in significant increases in drug use," the report said, citing policies in Australia, Holland and Portugal.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said Thursday that he was open to analyzing a "new direction" in the fight against drugs.
"We wish to welcome a new direction and think, that perhaps of all countries, we have the moral authority to take part in such a discussion," he said.
But Mexico, where more than 37,000 people have died in brutal drug wars since 2006, reacted angrily to the idea of legalizing drugs saying it would "not strengthen our security institutions and law enforcement."
"To suggest that organized crime in Mexico only amounts to drug trafficking, ignores the fact that organized gangs commit other crimes such as kidnapping, extortion and robbery," the country's national security council said in a statement.
But in London, actress Judi Dench, entrepreneur Richard Branson and pop star Sting joined three former police chiefs in urging British leader David Cameron to decriminalize drugs possession.
They signed a petition, drawn up by campaign group Release, calling for those caught possessing illegal substances to be fined rather than jailed and for addicts to be referred for treatment rather than given a criminal record.
"It is clear that the present system of applying the criminal law to the personal use and possession of drugs has failed," says the petition.
According to UN figures, consumption of opiates rose 35.5 percent between 1998 and 2008, cocaine use went up 27 percent and cannabis was up 8.5 percent.
"Arresting and incarcerating tens of millions of these people in recent decades has filled prisons and destroyed lives and families without reducing the availability of illicit drugs or the power of criminal organizations," the report said.
"Replace drug policies and strategies driven by ideology and political convenience with fiscally responsible policies and strategies grounded in science, health, security and human rights," it recommended.
