The war on drugs is not only a dismal failure, but it's a terribly destructive policy.

The war on drugs has been too long and too disgustingly failed and far too destructive.

The main problem that we did have was 'soft drugs,' things like marijuana.

We're not talking about ending it because drugs are good; they're certainly not. Everybody in my organization has fought the war on drugs long and hard. What we've changed is our minds about the way we're going about (the war).

Since 1970, we've spent more than a trillion dollars on this war and all we have to show for it each year is we arrest another 1.6 million people in this country for nonviolent drug offenses. Fully half are marijuana arrests.

When you have a war, there's going to be casualties, and there's going to be collateral damage. ... None of this would be happening if we ended the prohibition on drugs the way we ended the prohibition on alcohol.