A high-profile group of current and former U.S. law enforcement officials has sent a letter to the Harper government with a surprising message: Take it from us, the war on drugs has been a "costly failure."

The officials are urging the Canadian government to reconsider mandatory minimum sentences for "minor" marijuana offences under its "tough-on-crime bill" and said a better approach would be to legalize marijuana under a policy of taxation and regulation.

"We are ... extremely concerned that Canada is implementing mandatory minimum sentencing legislation for minor marijuana-related offences similar to those that have been such costly failures in the United States," the letter reads. "These policies have bankrupted state budgets as limited tax dollars pay to imprison non-violent drug offenders at record rates instead of programs that can actually improve community safety."

The letter was signed by more than two dozen current and former judges, police officers, special agents, drug investigators and other members of the advocacy group Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.

The release of the letter comes just days after four former attorneys general in British Columbia called for the repeal of Canada's marijuana prohibition laws, saying they have done nothing but fuel organized crime and gang violence.

But the Harper government remains unswayed.

In a statement Tuesday, a spokeswoman for Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said the government has "no intention to decriminalize or legalize marijuana" and "remains committed to ensuring criminals are held fully accountable for their actions."

Nicholson has said mandatory minimum sentences related to marijuana are designed to target organized crime, gangs and grow-ops.

The government's omnibus crime bill, Bill C-10, is now before the Senate committee on legal and constitutional affairs.

The letter from American law enforcement officials suggested that the U.S. is becoming "more progressive" than Canada with its marijuana policies.

"Sixteen U.S. states and the District of Columbia have passed laws allowing some degree of medical use of marijuana, and 14 states have taken steps to decriminalize marijuana possession," the letter said.

The letter also noted that three states - Washington, California and Colorado - are all preparing ballot initiatives in 2012 to overturn marijuana prohibition.

"In addition to gang violence, incarceration and criminal records for non-violent drug offenders have ruined countless lives. Based on this irrefutable evidence, and the repeal of these mandatory sentencing measures in various regions in the United States, we cannot understand why Canada's federal government and some provincial governments would embark down this road," the U.S. officials wrote.

Source: Postmedia News