A report [text, PDF] released Monday by the Global Commission on Drug Policy [advocacy website] recommends “no penalty whatsoever” for low-level possession and consumption drug offenses. The commission of 23, which includes former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan, Virgin Group founder Richard Branson and former chairman of the US Federal Reserve Paul Volcker, is headed by former president of Switzerland Ruth Dreifuss. Calling the global war on drugs “misguided,” the panel cited human rights and the rule of law as reasons for governments to take control of drug markets through “sensible regulation.” The report also contains a summary of the increase in global drug use, revealing that in the 11 years between 2003 and 2014, the number of individuals aged 15-64 who had consumed illicit drugs in the previous 12 months increased 33 percent from 185 million to 257 million.

The Commission on Drug Policy, first issued a report [JURIST report] in 2011, and since that time it has released three other reports [official website], all of which advocate varying levels of drug decriminalization and legalization. There has been a movement internationally to decriminalize and even legalize drug usage: Portugal decriminalized all drug usage [WP report] in 2001. In the US, voters in California, Nevada and Massachusetts approved recreational marijuana [JURIST report] usage for adults in the recent election. In Mexico, President Enrique Pena Nieto has advocated the relaxing of marijuana laws [JURIST report].