Why is it only 'formers' who want to talk about drugs?

BBC News (UK)
Thursday, November 17, 2011

Former head of MI5 Eliza Manningham-Buller today joins an increasingly long list of "formers" and "exes" who have publicly condemned the so-called "War on Drugs" as a "dead end". She will be among many other retired establishment figures lining up to say that we need to launch a global and national search operation for a workable alternative to prohibition. The question that leaps out, of course, is why didn't any of these people make their argument before they retired from the day-job?