It's a multi-billion dollar industry, driven by violent criminal gangs which has killed hundreds of thousands of people around the world, but is the so-called war on drugs working?<br /><br />Two world leaders do not think so. Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and former Brazilian president Fernando Henrique Cardoso say repressive approaches to containing drugs have failed.<br /><br />Both men are members of the Global Commission on Drug Policy - and they are calling for a new approach.<br /><br />In an newspaper opinion piece they wrote: "'We called on governments to adopt more humane and effective ways of controlling and regulating drugs. We recommended that the criminalisation of drug use should be replaced by a public health approach.<br /><br />"We also appealed for countries to carefully test models of legal regulation as a means to undermine the power of organised crime, which thrives on illicit drug trafficking."<br /><br />Those in favour of reform say the war on drugs is a colossal waste of government resources; regulation could instead yield billions in tax revenues; it would be a blow to organised crime and put drug dealers out of business, and it would cut street crime and violence related to drug trafficking.<br /><br />Those against legalising drugs say it would create a large black market; it would lead to yet more addicts and more crime; an increase in the use of soft drugs could see users graduate to harder drugs, and drugs could fall more easly into the hands of children.<br /><br />Drugs became a symbol of youthful rebellion and social upheaval in the 1960s, and in the summer of 1971 US President Richard Nixon first declared the so-called 'war on drugs'.<br /><br />It is estimated to have cost more than one trillion dollars in the four decades since then, with the bill now running at 100 billion dollars a year.<br /><br />The UN estimates the drug market itself to be worth 1.3 trillion US dollars and growing, and generating profits of around 435 billion dollars a year.<br /><br />Latest UN figures show some 230 million people took illicit drugs in 2011, with estimates suggesting the number of drug-related deaths could be as high as a quarter of a million.<br /><br />Calls for the decriminalisation of drugs are growing stronger around the world.<br /><br />Portugal is seen as a pioneer. It decriminalised drug use twelve years ago, putting possession of a small amount of drugs on a par with illegal parking.<br /><br />Colorado and Washington in the US have legalised the recreational use of cannabis for those over 21.<br /><br />Chile, Ecuador and Colombia have ruled that the possession of drugs for personal use is no longer a crime.<br /><br />And Uruguay is considering a passing legislation which would see the government growing and selling marijuana, for as little as a dollar a gram.<br /><br />The Secretary General of Uruguay's national Drug Board, Julio Calzada, said last week: "... starting with the passing of the law, and it being put into place, it will progressively capture more of some of the most important parts of the black market."<br /><br />But the president of the Senate's Health Commission, Alfredo Solari, countered: "It is not that it is a bad bill, it's disastrous ... we have a marijuana use problem at a certain level in some populations, so to minimize this problem we are going to compete with drug dealers."<br /><br />So is it time for a fresh approach to the war on drugs based around legalisation and regulation?<br /><br />And can decriminalisation help reduce drug abuse and organised crime?<br /><br />To discuss this, Inside Story, with presenter Hazem Sika, is joined by guests: Sanho Tree, director of the Drug Policy Project which works to end the domestic and international war on drugs; Amanda Fielding, a drug policy reformer and founder of the Beckley Foundation, and Manuel Pinto Coelho, president of the Association for a Drug Free Portugal.
