Global evidence，UN reports and scientific literature indicate that the ‘war on drugs’ has failed to achieve its stated objectives of eliminating or reducing the production，consumption and trafficking of illegal drugs. Furthermore，it has created major negative consequences，mostly unintended before they were identified in 2008，impacting development policies：from mass incarcerations to a thriving illegal drug market；to the spread of infectious diseases；to the lack of access to pain relief medication；to human rights violations，breach of the rule of law and violent cities. These consequences have led to a global movement towards addressing the harms created by drug control policies themselves. This global movement of addressing the harms of wrong drug policies met its climax in 2011，when a group of former heads of state and former UN high-level officials mandated themselves to address drug policy reform，and created the Global Commission on Drug Policy. This article presents the views and explanations of the Global Commission on how drugs were socially constructed as evil and those who use them as failing members of society；how the international control system，based on wrong assumptions and lacking scientific bases，is failing；and how societies are paying the social，economic and cultural price of the “war on drugs” and prohibitionist policies. The article then presents the pathways suggested by the members of the Global Commission on Drug Policy to address the inadequacies in the current response to drugs，by shifting the primary focus of drug control into preserving public health；by ensuring drug control is no longer a barrier for millions of people who cannot access essential medicines in low and middle-income countries；by decriminalizing the use and personal possession of illegal drugs；and by establishing proportionate sentences for drug offences.