Global reformers say it's time for change on drugs

New Zealand Herald
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Forty years after United States President Richard Nixon launched his War on Drugs, a conflict that far eclipses the War on Terror, the struggle to contain, let alone end, illicit drug abuse is far from over, spewing violence, corruption and addiction into new markets, brutal capitalism at its most malignant. But, finally, there is a glimmer of hope. The Global Commission on Drug Reform, formed in January, declared the War on Drugs a resounding failure, and suggested radical measures must be taken if the global narco culture was to ever be defeated. "Fundamental reforms in national and global control policies are urgently needed," said Brazil's ex-president, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, who heads the commission.