THE Foreign Affairs Minister, Bob Carr, is among a group of prominent Australians who have declared the ''war on drugs'' a failure in the most significant challenge to drug laws in decades.

''The prohibition of illicit drugs is killing and criminalising our children and we are letting it happen,'' says a report released today by the group, which includes the former federal police chief Mick Palmer, the former NSW director of public prosecutions Nicholas Cowdery, QC, the former West Australian premier Geoff Gallop, a former Defence Department secretary, Paul Barratt, the former federal health ministers Michael Wooldridge and Peter Baume, and the drug addiction expert Alex Wodak.

"The prohibition of illicit drugs is killing and criminalising our children and we are letting it happen." ... Bob Carr. Credit:Reuters

Senator Carr, the former NSW premier, agreed to join the campaign before becoming Foreign Affairs Minister. In his contribution to the report he questions whether the pursuit of marijuana users is the best use of police time.

''An issue that worried me while I was in NSW politics was the police hitting railway stations with sniffer dogs. It was marijuana that was the focus.''