Drug trafficking

Ahead Of UN Summit, Global Leaders Call For End To ‘Disastrous’ Drug War

More than 1,000 world leaders, celebrities, and other societal figures have signed a lettercalling for an end to the “disastrous” drug war ahead of an upcoming United Nations summit to discuss the organization’s nearly two-decade-long campaign against narcotics.

“Humankind cannot afford a 21st century drug policy as ineffective and counterproductive as the last century’s,” reads the letter, organized by the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA), a drug reform advocacy group.

The signatories, which include Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) as well as the former presidents and prime ministers of Mexico, Colombia, and the Netherlands, among others, are urging UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to usher in “real drug reform policy,” one grounded in “science, compassion, health and human rights.”