"There is a growing perception that the 'war on drugs' approach has failed," the Global Commission on Drug Policies said in a statement, as it began an inaugural two day meeting in Geneva. "Eradication of production and criminalization of consumption did not reduce drug traffic and drug use," the commission said. It concluded that the harm from corruption and violence resulting from prohibition "largely exceeds the harm caused by drugs."

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will make a one-day visit to Mexico next week to discuss bilateral issues including organized crime. The visit comes as drug prohibition violence continues to plague Mexico, including a string of attacks in the Pacific resort city of Acapulco and the northern business hub of Monterrey since the start of the year. Drug prohibition violence left 15,273 dead in Mexico in 2010, according to official figures, making it the deadliest year yet since President Felipe Calderon launched a military crackdown on drug trafficking organizations four years ago, with tens of thousands of troops.

A Penticton, B.C., man vacationing in Mexico is recovering in hospital from a gunshot wound after being caught in a bloody crossfire that left one man dead in yet another round of drug prohibition violence in the troubled country. The man, in his 60s, was leaving a Mazatlan pharmacy with his wife on Sunday when gunmen opened fire, spraying their intended target with bullets and striking the man in the leg below the knee, according to family members.

Colombia's largest rebel group FARC may benefit from the recent killing of neo-paramilitary drug lord "Cuchillo," newspaper El Espectador reports. According to the newspaper, the death of Pedro Oliveiro Guerrero, alias Cuchillo, late last month brought an end to the paramilitary rule of the underworld of Colombia's eastern plains that started when the AUC took control of the region in the 1990s. A police investigator told El Espectador that members of Cuchillo's organization ERPAC have been meeting to assure a continuation of the drug trade, but have not been able to appoint a successor of their slain leader.