A report released yesterday by the Global Commission on Drug Policy calling for the legalization or decriminalization of many drugs is generating quite a buzz (at least judging by the wide variety of people in my social network I have seen post it).  The findings of the report are not terribly noteworthy–people have been making similar arguments for decades–but the list of political heavyweights on the commission is. The BBC reports:

The panel includes former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, the former leaders of Mexico, Colombia and Brazil, and the entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson…

The 19-member commission includes Mexico’s former President Ernesto Zedillo, Brazil’s ex-President Fernando Henrique Cardoso and former Colombian President Cesar Gaviria, as well as the former US Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker and the current Prime Minister of Greece George Papandreou.

The panel also features 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.

It’s revealing that only one of the many political figures on the commission is currently in office. I think most high level politicians know the drug war is a failure. How could they not? However, they fear that voicing such a heresy will instantly brand them as “soft on crime” or “pro-drug” and potentially cost them their office. Better to wait until after retirement to speak the truth on such an emotional issue. It’s becoming more acceptable to question prohibitionist policies in Latin America, which has borne the worst of the fighting, but in the states, supporting the drug war is still the electorally safe route.

In The Republic, Plato famously advanced the idea of “the noble lie,” a myth that political leaders consciously propagate to keep social order. That’s a disturbing thought, but the noble lie seems to be mercifully rare. Unfortunately, the ignoble lie–a myth propagated by a politician for no greater good save his constant reelection–is common as the cold. Politicians’ ignoble lies are hardly limited to drug policy, of course. They employ it whenever the public would rather not hear the truth, so it surfaces frequently in conversations about health care and entitlements among other issues where unpleasant tradeoffs must be accepted.

But the idea of a drug free America is the king of ignoble lies. Every politician knows it’s a fantasy, but if one of them dares to even acknowledge this fact, his opposition will turn him into Tony Montana. This will not change until the public becomes willing to accept uncomfortable truths, or politicians are willing to accept the negative consequences of speaking them. I am not optimistic on either front.