“It created a vast illicit market that has enriched criminal organizations, corrupted governments, triggered explosive violence, distorted economic markets and undermined basic moral values.” That’s just a few of the outcomes of an international war on drugs that has been completely disastrous. And those are the words of at least a thousand world leaders who signed a letter to the U.N. ahead of an international drug summit.

+ “Worldwide about 246 million people use illicit drugs, and 1 in 10 of these users suffer from disorders related to drug use.” The LA Times with some of the numbers. (The number quoted above sure seems low, no?)

+ Scientific American: “Experts say listing cannabis among the world’s deadliest drugs ignores decades of scientific and medical data. But attempts to delist it have met with decades of bureaucratic inertia and political distortion.”