An independent committee of ex-government officials in Puerto Rico has declared the drug war a failure, and the mayors of three major cities are ready to support the committee's recommendations with pilot programs for alternative drug policies.
 
The prestigious committee is calling for alternative drug policies such as access to medical marijuana, increased access to treatment, expansion of methadone programs, and sterile syringe availability for injection drug users. The committee also recommends the decriminalization of all drugs and the taxation and regulation of marijuana. 
 
The mayors of San Juan, Caguas and Mayaguez have all proposed that their cities serve as pilot sites for new policies that will promote and expand access to treatment. Other reforms recommended by the committee, such as changes to marijuana laws, would have to take place at the territory level.
 
In its recommendations, the committee said that the current punitive approach to drugs has failed, and that it is time to embrace drug policies driven by public health considerations. 
 
The committee called Puerto Rico's high rate of murders and other violent crimes a "great social crisis," and blamed the drug trade for the majority of these crimes. It asserted that its recommendations would lead to greater public safety, reduced crime, fewer prisoners, and lower rates of HIV and hepatitis infection.
 
The committee's recommendations combine a public health approach towards drug users with a call for increased enforcement against drug traffickers.
 
Committee members say the next step is to build political will at the federal and territory levels to enact these changes.