Costa Leaving U.N. Drug Agency

The longtime head of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, Antonio Maria Costa, is stepping down in July, and the leading candidate to replace him reportedly is Yuri Fedotov, currently Russia’s ambassador to the U.K.

Costa has served as the U.N.’s “drug czar” since 2002 and was long viewed as a staunch defender of the traditional “war on drugs.” However, he also has endorsed treating addiction as a public-health problem.