Misguided. Really?

I'm starting to feel like a broken record on this topic but it's an issue that deserves attention and one in which Obama - in his 2nd term - needs to demonstrate how rational he is by taking a reasoned approach to the "drug war" despite the potential political ramifications.

From NPR...

"The global war on drugs has failed, with devastating consequences for individuals and societies around the world," a high-powered commission whose members include former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz and former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan warns today.

The report from the Global Commission on Drug Policy goes on to recommend:

— An end to "the criminalization, marginalization and stigmatization of people who use drugs but who do no harm to others."

— Governments experiment "with models of legal regulation of drugs to undermine the power of organized crime and safeguard the health and security of their citizens. This recommendation applies especially to cannabis."

— Increases in "health and treatment services [for] those in need."

— Less focus on the arrest and imprisonment of "people involved in the lower ends of illegal drug markets, such as farmers, couriers and petty sellers. Many are themselves victims of violence and intimidation or are drug dependent. Arresting and incarcerating tens of millions of these people in recent decades has filled prisons and destroyed lives and families without reducing the availability of illicit drugs or the power of criminal organizations."

According to the commission members:

"Vast expenditures on criminalization and repressive measures directed at producers, traffickers and consumers of illegal drugs have clearly failed to effectively curtail supply or consumption. Apparent victories in eliminating one source or trafficking organization are negated almost instantly by the emergence of other sources and traffickers. Repressive efforts directed at consumers impede public health measures to reduce HIV/AIDS, overdose fatalities and other harmful consequences of drug use. Government expenditures on futile supply reduction strategies and incarceration displace more cost-effective and evidence-based investments in demand and harm reduction."

As the BBC notes, though, "the U.S. and Mexican governments have [previously] rejected the findings as misguided."