REPORT ARGUES FOR LEGALIZATION OF NARCOTICS

War on Drugs 'Failed' -Time to Break the Pot Taboo

AFP- The global war on drugs has failed and decriminalizing narcotics
such as marijuana could finally help weaken organized gangs, former
world leaders said Thursday.

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.

"Fifty years after the initiation of the UN Single Convention on
Narcotic Drugs, and 40 years after President [Richard] Nixon launched
the U.S. 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 front
line 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.

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.

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."

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 calling for those caught possessing illegal
substances to be fined rather than jailed.