The Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) is calling on World leaders to find new strategies to help in fighting the war against drugs instead of asking for the drugs to be legalized. The Board is of the view that even though much has not been achieved in the fight against drugs, one cannot call for the legalization of some drugs as the solution to the menace. The Public Relations Officer of NACOB, Francis Opoku told Adom News Ghana together with the rest of the world is not ready for such a move. According to a report by the Global Commission on Drug Policy released on Thursday June 2, the whole world has failed in fighting the war against drugs. The Commission therefore suggested that some drugs like cocaine and cannabis should be legalized while an end is brought to the criminalization of drug users. The panel includes former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, prominent Latin American writers Carlos Fuentes and Mario Vargas Llosa, the EU's former Foreign Policy chief Javier Solana, and George Schultz, a former US secretary of state, former leaders of Mexico, Colombia and Brazil and the entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson who owns the Virgin Group. Their report argues that anti-drug policy has failed and is fuelling organized crime, costing taxpayers millions of dollars and causing thousands of deaths. It cites UN estimates that opiate use increased by 35% worldwide from 1998 to 2008, cocaine by 27 % and cannabis by 8.5%. However, Francis Opoku says the fight against drugs goes beyond legalization and that the health implications for users and its monitoring in the world and even Ghana should be taken serously. Meanwhile reports from the BBC say the White House has rejected the findings, saying the report was misguided. Back home, some Ghanaians who spoke to Adom News strongly disagreed with the Global Commission’s suggestion adding that people would abuse the system should drugs be legalized. Story by Nana Yaa Boahamponsem/Adom News/Ghana