When it comes to drug policy, business as usual is not good enough
It’s been 55 years since US President Nixon famously declared a “war on drugs”, kickstarting a global effort to eradicate both narcotic drug demand and supply through the brute force of heavy-handed, militarised law enforcement, merciless criminalisation, and zero tolerance for personal drug use.
Needless to say, this war - aided and abetted by outdated and fundamentally flawed United Nations drug conventions – has been a costly, catastrophic and deadly failure.
As the 2026 World Drug Report released by the UN today tells us, nearly 500,000 people globally died of drug-related causes in 2023 alone, up 34% on just a decade ago.
And while opioids like heroin, made from opium poppies, have seen a significant decline, highly potent synthetic opioids like fentanyl or nitazenes have more than filled the gap, as has cocaine, with global production nearly quadrupling over the last decade. Undeniably, the world is awash in illegal drugs – a global trade estimated to turn over upwards of $500 billion annually now. The “drug free world” the UN promised to deliver back in 1998 is a more distant and delusional fantasy with each passing year.
The truth is that the illegal market, agile and adaptive as it is, will always be miles ahead of any law enforcement instrument, no matter how aggressive. The only answer is not more warfare but wrestling control of the market from criminal organisations through sensible and forward-looking reforms that prioritise public, health, harm reduction and legal regulation. There is no other way to reduce the death toll, stop the waste of public resources, and offer support those who need it at scale.
Don’t just take my word for it, though. Listen to the countless people who have tragically lost loved ones to illicit drugs, like the families that have come together as part of Anyone’s Child: Families for Safer Drug Control, a UK initiative that highlights the devastating impact of drug prohibition on people’s lives.
Their experiences and personal stories of loss and suffering, shared this week with policymakers and media in Westminster, should be a wake-up call to anyone seriously committed to reducing drug harms: prohibition kills, because the fear of criminalisation and prosecution often prevents people from seeking help when they most need it. And of course, those in control of the illegal supply do not care one bit about product safety. The global market is flooded with drugs of unknown provenance and ever-increasing strength, because in a prohibitive environment producers know that greater potency means greater margins and easier trafficking. Don’t expect quality assurance and usage instructions from criminal organisations. Addiction creates inflexible demand, and criminal cartels are all too ready to meet that demand – with no regard for the human toll.
To be clear, no one making an evidence-based case for drug policy reform is arguing that drugs are safe. We all understand the risks of overdose and addiction, and we share the concerns about adolescent access and use. The problem is that the status quo of prohibition has only made things worse.
As a member of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, I am fully aligned with my fellow commissioners and countless experts in saying that only decriminalisation and regulated, strictly controlled legal markets for drugs stand any chance of tackling the growing rate of drug-related deaths and other harms. Money currently spent on futile law enforcement should be invested in public health interventions, harm reduction, prevention and education, supplemented by potentially billions in revenues from the taxation of a legally regulated supply. Canada and others have shown us how that can be accomplished for cannabis. Governments should try it for other drugs, too.
Most government leaders and policymakers I’ve spoken too fully understand the urgent need for reform, some express strong support, but few will say this publicly – for fear or being attacked in the media, or in the court of public opinion.
Those fears are mostly unfounded. As polling in Western countries shows over and over again, the public is often way ahead of the political world when it comes to drug policy. There is really no justification for policymakers to stay on the fence.
In the UK, where a new government is likely to come into office within months, the urgency couldn’t be any greater. With the highest number of drug deaths in Europe, and faced with a new wave of dangerous new synthetic drugs, this is not a niche issue. Drug policy is central and material to social policy. Reform will make UK communities safer, a continued war on drugs won’t.
Head over to these brilliant organisations and campaigns working to make drug policy reform a reality:
Global Commission on Drug Policy
International Drug Policy Consortium