WAR ON DRUGS HAS BEEN A TOTAL FAILURE

The Global Commission on Drug Policy announced yesterday what many in
B.C., including this newspaper, have been saying for years. The
so-called "War on Drugs" has been a spectacular failure.

The commission -whose membership includes such international
luminaries as former U.S. secretary of state George Shultz, former
secretary-general of the United Nations Kofi Annan, renowned
international businessman Sir Richard Branson and former chairman of
the U.S. Federal Reserve Paul Volcker -concluded that a policing
model to combat drug abuse has been ridiculously costly and turned
into an attack on addicts.

"Repressive strategies will not solve the drug problem, and that the
war on drugs has not, and cannot, be won," says the commission, which
called on governments worldwide to decriminalize many drugs,
particularly marijuana.

It's very unfortunate that the Harper government's anticrime plans
include the same expensive, useless, inhumane and failed drug
policies the commission has denounced.