President Barack Obama and Mexican President Felipe Calderon held firm to their stance against legalizing drugs even after confronted by other world leaders with a report by the Global Commission on Drug Policy recommending that governments find innovative ways of legalizing and regulating drugs, specifically marijuana, in an attempt to deny profits to drug cartels. These leaders include former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan and past presidents of Mexico, Brazil, and Colombia. These high-profile leaders believe that the global war on drugs is a costly failure and governments should end "the criminalization, marginalization, and stigmatization of people who use drugs but do no harm to others" (Ellingwood). The report argues that anti-drug policy has failed by encouraging organized crime, which in turn costs taxpayers millions of dollars and causes thousands of deaths (BBC News). .
The report criticizes those who believe the war on drugs has been effective thus far. "Political leaders and public figures should have the courage to articulate publicly what many of them acknowledge privately: that the evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that repressive strategies will not solve the drug problem, and that the war on drugs has not, and cannot, be won," the report said (BBC News). .
The report also noted, "There are signs of inertia in the drug policy debate in some parts of the world as policymakers understand that current policies and strategies are failing but do not know what to do instead." Sir Richard of Scotland, another country facing the same debate, urged leaders to look at "alternative, fact-based approaches" citing that "we need more humane and effective ways to reduce the harm caused by drugs. The one thing we cannot afford to do is to go on pretending the war on drugs is working" (BBC News). .
However, the U.S. and Mexican governments immediately dismissed the report and vowed to continue their violent 4.
