On June 20, 2011, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, meeting in Baltimore for its 79th annual meeting, unanimously adopted a resolution calling the war on drugs a failed policy and the main driver of mass incarceration. It came days after the 40th anniversary of President Nixon’s declaration against drug abuse and put the nonpartisan mayors’ group on record against the drug war’s reliance on arrest and incarceration.
What Happened
The resolution was offered by Santa Fe Mayor David Coss and passed without opposition, according to the Drug Policy Alliance, which lobbied for it, and an ACLU roundup from that week. It described the drug war as a failed policy that fueled over-incarceration and racial disparities, and it formally endorsed the National Criminal Justice Commission Act of 2011.
That bill, S. 306, was introduced on February 8, 2011, by Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia with 19 cosponsors, including Republican Lindsey Graham. It would have created a bipartisan national commission to spend 18 months reviewing the entire criminal justice system, including drug policy, and recommend reforms.
Why It Mattered
June 17, 2011, was 40 years to the day since Nixon, at a White House news conference, called drug abuse “America’s public enemy number one,” the moment usually cited as the start of the modern war on drugs. Two weeks before the mayors met, the Global Commission on Drug Policy, whose members included Kofi Annan, had declared that the global war on drugs had failed. Days after that, Reps. Barney Frank and Ron Paul introduced the first bill to end federal marijuana prohibition. Mayors, who run the police departments and jails that carry out drug enforcement, added a local-government voice to the criticism.
What Happened Next
The commission was never created. Webb’s bill did not pass, and he retired from the Senate in January 2013. The broader shift the mayors pointed to did continue: marijuana arrests, which topped 800,000 a year from 2006 through 2010, fell steadily as states decriminalized and legalized, a trend tracked in our report on marijuana arrests by year. Congress later passed narrower sentencing changes, including the First Step Act of 2018.
Where It Stands in 2026
Marijuana is now legal for adults in roughly half the states, but adult-use marijuana is still a Schedule I drug under federal law; only state-licensed medical marijuana and FDA-approved products moved to Schedule III in April 2026. Our guide to the war on drugs and marijuana covers the costs and the policy since 1971, and cannabis laws by state has the current rules where you live.
Conference of Mayors Drug War Resolution FAQ
When did the U.S. Conference of Mayors call the drug war a failure?
At its 79th annual meeting in Baltimore, in a resolution adopted unanimously on June 20, 2011.
What did the mayors’ resolution call for?
It called the war on drugs a failed policy that drives mass incarceration and endorsed Sen. Jim Webb’s National Criminal Justice Commission Act, which would have created a bipartisan commission to review the justice system.
Did Congress create the criminal justice commission?
No. The National Criminal Justice Commission Act never became law.
Originally reported by The Weed Street Journal; rewritten and updated in October 2026 with what happened next.
