The global war on drugs has "failed" according to a new report by group of politicians and former world leaders.

一组政客和前世界领导所做的一份新报告中透露，全球范围内对毒品的战争已宣告“失败”。

The Global Commission on Drug Policy report calls for the legalisation of some drugs and an end to the criminalisation of drug users.

The panel includes former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, the former leaders of Mexico, Colombia and Brazil, and the entrepreneur（企业家） Sir Richard Branson.

The White House rejected the findings, saying the report was misguided.

As well as Mexico's former President Ernesto Zedillo, ex-Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso and former Colombian President Cesar Gaviria, the 19-member commission includes the former US Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker and the current Prime Minister of Greece George Papandreou.

The panel also features prominent Latin American writers Carlos Fuentes and Mario Vargas Llosa, the EU's former foreign policy chief Javier Solana, and George Schultz, a former US secretary of state.

'No harm to others'

Their report argues that anti-drug policy has failed by fuelling organised crime, costing taxpayers¹ millions of dollars and causing thousands of deaths.

It cites UN estimates that opiate（鸦片制剂） use increased 35% worldwide from 1998 to 2008, cocaine² by 27%, and cannabis（大麻） by 8.5%.

The authors criticise³ governments who claim the current war on drugs is effective:

"Political leaders and public figures should have the courage to articulate publicly what many of them acknowledge privately⁴: 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.