FAILURE OF THE WAR ON DRUGS

In 1998 the UN general assembly special session on drugs met under the
slogan "A drug-free world, we can do it". A letter to Kofi Annan, sent
in advance of the event and signed by religious leaders, ministers and
other prominent individuals from around the world, stated that the UN
needed to be "willing to ask and address tough questions about the
success or failure of its efforts", stating that "we believe that the
global war on drugs is now causing more harm than drug misuse itself".

What is now needed is an admission that most existing policies have
failed and an open debate on what alternative policies should be
adopted for the future. The UN high-level segment in Vienna next week
offers an opportunity for these discussions to begin.

To this end we suggest that the UN should now establish an
intergovernmental panel charged with the task of examining all
possible alternative policies for the control of the drugs trade. Such
a panel should of course examine and evaluate the experience of those
countries that, in spite of UN regulations, have experimented with
alternative policies, such as Portugal, Switzerland and Canada. The
important thing is to get the debate out in the open and free of all
prejudices.

Victor Adebowale, Peter Archer, Elizabeth Barker, Tessa Blackstone,
Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, Meghnad Desai, Navnit Dholakia, Ilora Finlay,
Francis Hare, Merlin Hay, Frank Judd, Richard Layard, David Lipsey,
Colin Low, David Lytton-Cobbold, Benjamin Mancroft, Molly Meacher, Sue
Miller, Elaine Murphy, Julia Neuberger, Michael Onslow, Naren Patel,
David Puttnam, David Ramsbotham, Nicolas Rea, Mark Schreiber, Vivien
Stern, Dennis Stevenson, John Walton, Members of the House of Lords