Ex-Mexico president calls for legalizing drugs

[cory777]

Source: AP

MEXICO CITY - Former President Vicente Fox is joining with those urging his successor to legalize drugs in Mexico, saying that could break the economic power of the country's brutal drug cartels.

Fox's comments, posted Sunday on his blog, came less than a week after President Felipe Calderon agreed to open the door to discussions about the legalization of drugs, even though he stressed that he remained opposed to the idea.

Fox said places that have implemented the legalization strategy have not seen significant increases in drug use.

"We should consider legalizing the production, distribution and sale of drugs," wrote Fox, who was president from 2000 to 2006 and is a member of Calderon's conservative National Action Party. "Radical prohibition strategies have never worked."

Read more: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/100808/world/lt_drug_war_mexico

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[Bobbieo]

1. The time is right!!!!!

[Hamlette]

2. The US gov't will go nutz. If we can't stop them, we'll bribe them

don't ask me why. I don't know.

[sofa king]

6. Or back a coup.

Not like that hasn't happened before, although we left Mexico alone longer than most of our neighbors to the South.

[pitohui]

23. we won't allow canada to legalize either and canada more powerful than mexico

the states that have successfully "legalized" are distant and weak, such as bolivia, of course, the gov't of bolivia gives fuck-all what the usa thinks and i don't blame them after 30 years of reagan/bush, we will have to prove ourselves to them as decent people and so far we've got other matters on our plate

the usa federales go after people on our own soil (california) and even into british columbia where there's any de facto de criminalization...there's just too much money in corporate prisons and misery for the usa to give this up willingly in my humble opinion

i don't like being around drug users but taking away a man's freedom for selling a part of a plant...how we will justify ourselves in the eyes of future generations? we look like those dark days in england a few hundred years ago where people were transported (and often killed by disease in transport) for the mere picking of a pocket

too bad we can't have some sense of proportion

[earcandle]

3. Please do. Stop the bloodshed. Give the people natural pain killers that won't harm them.

[nashville_brook]

4. Just say NOW.

[Warpy]

5. He's absolutely right about that

Destroy the black market by taking the profit out. Without their obscene profits, the drug lords won't be able to stockpile weapons and hire enforcers. The murder rate is likely to plummet along with less serious street crime.

Fox is right. The world as a whole can no longer afford a war on human behavior. Trying to create heaven on earth by making lesser sins like getting high illegal only creates hell on earth, something the Mexicans know all too well now.

I would be delighted to see enlightened countries tell the Washington and the paramilitary DEA to stuff it and get the hell out of their countries.

Eventually maybe we'll catch a clue, too.

[dimbear]

7. Narcotraficantes 100% opposed to legalization, no doubt.

Who else sides with them?

[Warpy]

17. Some of the smarter gangs have done good things in the community

so they've actually got a lot of support in poor communities in border towns. That comes in handy when one of them has to hide because the cops are getting closer.

Most of the carnage there is punk on punk carnage as the gangs squabble over territories and trade routes and wannabes try to horn in on the action. The big increase in violence has happened as the manufacture of crank has been pushed south due to restrictive laws on getting pseudoephedrine here in border states.

There is a lot of support for the gangs in poor communities, though, and they're praised in narcocorridas on both sides of the border.

Still, they do far more harm than good, especially regarding the crossfire that has been so hard on the ordinary citizens. While they have support, they still need to go and the best way to get rid of them is kill their source of revenue.

Trying to kill them hasn't worked.

[pitohui]

24. bolivia has kicked out the DEA

of course they are weak and have nothing to lose but it's something when a tiny, poor state like bolivia is bold enough to say, "we've had it, all you people do is defoliate our forest and poison our farms"

the drug traffickers in mexico should be executed to a man in my humble opinion but execute them for all the young men (police officers, soldiers) they've murdered in cold blood, rather than execute someone for selling plant parts and chemicals

[Gman]

8. Legalize it and tax it in Mexico? That won't do a damn thing to stop the drug violence

What? And who collects the tax money? And where does it go? So the Mexican military busts several tons of marijuana, but it's not a bust (for a price) because it was bound for sale at the pharmacia? Sounds like just another revenue source for the corrupt, i.e. everybody. Meanwhile, they keep shipping it to the US where the really big bucks are and more people die. Fox was crook #1 and Fox is directly responsible for all of the drug cartel problems. He had no idea what he was doing.

[kenichol]

13. I respectfully disagree

It's my opinion that the US policy of prohibition of marijuana, heroin and cocaine is largely responsible for the violence in production & supply.

I agree with LEAP Law Enforcement Against Prohibition http://www.leap.cc/cms/index.php.

I live 100 miles north of 'ground zero' in the War on Drugs, Juarez Mexico. I can't evade or avoid the truth of the costs of this policy.

That's why this is our second year to have a LEAP speaker at our county fair to continue to discuss the failed War on Drugs, that contributes to our having 25% of the world's prisoner population, 'tho we only have 5% of the world's population.

[Gman]

18. And I travel to the Texas Rio Grande Valley a couple times a month

And live 130 - 150 miles north of the border. I'm well aware of what's going on.

Legalization in the US undoubtedly would do much to break the drug cartels. But legalizing it in Mexico is laughable. It's not like people are smuggling drugs into Mexico on a scale that 28,000 have died.

[kenichol]

19. The murders mean that nothing is laughable

Any talk about the failure of the US policy's 'war on drugs' is a good thing. Any time we can open up a discussion about the failure of the US's 'war on drugs' is a good thing.

[pitohui]

25. i think gman is correct

however even if the idea wouldn't work, it gets people talking and that's something

plus if it saves some poor kid from going to jail in mexico for basically nothing (smoking a joint) well, you helped that kid if no one else

i personally don't think that legalization can work in mexico or canada until the usa has a change of heart because otherwise we will keep sticking our nose in and we're the ones with the big bombs -- but something has got to give, mexico is just being destroyed by these monsters, they are killing police officers, soldiers, politicians, just wiping out so many people at a time sometime

this can't go on

[defendandprotect]

9. There's only shreds of our government left -- hurry up!!

[jonthebru]

10. Remove the vice from vice.

I have said for many years to get rid of the dealers and smuggling, legalize the organic drugs.
Also anything that organized crime prospers on should be legitimized.
Take the wind out of their sails so to speak.

[truthisfreedom]

11. The US went through this and solved it the same way, when the mob controlled booze.

Can't ignore the truth.

[Javaman]

12. It will happen...

Why you ask? because as Mexico's largest oil field is failing and the income from such is falling short. The budget short fall, as a result, is in desperate need of a fixe.

They have already tried various budget fixing measures, but they have gone over like a lead balloon.

Legalizing pot and cocaine will be their fix.

We will have Amsterdam south of the border soon. At which point, one would think that they US will stop their "war on drug" charade. Nope. The various government and local police dept's will have to figure out new and creative ways to fund their paramilitary units.

Then we will hear from the right wing propaganda arm screeching about how not only are illegals flooding across the border but they are all drug addicts!!!

Which, they will conclude, "are influencing our kids!!!" Like drugs never existed before. LOL

Good for Mexico. It will be interesting to see how it will effect the various drug cartels. I'm assuming people down there will suddenly be able to buy cocaine with a Zeta label.

[pitohui]

26. nah i don't think so

it's just my opinion, and i can see why there are different ideas on this, but IN MY OPINION ONLY i don't see mexico as the amsterdam of the south, i think if they really do legalize, instead of having a renewed explosion of tourism, because of the usa reaction, there will be a ramping up of "hassle" and tourism to mexico will actually drop while the war goes on -- the usa does not tolerate very well when mexico colors outside the lines

a big deal to mexico is medical/dental/pharmacy tourism and the usa killed a lot of that in the bush era (esp. buying cheap pharma, as we all used to if we couldn't afford american script) because while the clinton policy was that you could import 3 months of non scheduled drugs for personal use from mexico, bush felt you shouldn't be able to buy any drugs from mexico at all -- he increased the "hassle factor" and some people (including myself) who formerly bought perfectly legal drugs (that are STILL legal in mexico and america, just cheap there, costly here) quit buying them because there was no use buying something a customs official would steal at the border...

look at bolivia...small personal quantities of cocaine and pretty much all the coca you want are legal (i don't know about pot) yet who goes there? well, i've gone there, and i can tell you why americans don't visit, "it's too much hassle" the usa and bolivian gov'ts don't get along, so we hassle them and they hassle us, and to visit i had to comply w. a soviet level type of bureaucracy -- let's be honest -- drug users ("get high for fun" users anyway) are not going to go thru a lot of hassle to visit another country, it's just easier to do it at home, even if it's illegal at home and legal in amsterdam/mexico/bolivia/canada/you name it -- you only have to have your rental car taken apart ONCE crossing from windsor to detroit (this actually happened to one of my friends) to say, fuck it, never again will i put myself thru this...

be honest -- how many times have YOU visited amsterdam unless you were going there anyway? magic eight balls says....never...

amsterdam gets more tourism being a DL/KLM hub than it does from dope, any day, guaranteed

travelers and recreational drug users don't actually overlap much, travelers tend to welcome "challenge" and recreational drug users are more hedonistic, nothing wrong w. either lifestyle but you don't attract the one by appealing to the other

again JUST MY OPINION

[MindPilot]

14. Why is it always EX-officals?

Rarely if ever does a sitting politician or head-of-state ever offer any sane solutions; it's always when their first name is changed to "former" that they seem to get the clue.

[kenichol]

20. New Mexico's Governor Gary Johnson was anti-drug war

Republican Gary Johnson was anti-drug war while he was in office. Repubs distanced themselves from Gary by saying he was really a Libertarian who 'faked' being Republican. Go figure.

[kenichol]

21. 2 El Paso city commissioners also spoke out while in office

Beto O'Rourke and Susie Byrd spoke out while in office.

[Lightning Count]

15. People seem to think if it's legalized that there will be no regulation.

Dosage (strength), amount that can be sold, etc. will all be regulated. So if you desire to snort a gram of cocaine in one night, it is not likely you will be able to. Sames goes for drugs such as meth. This will not satisfy many.

[Uncle Joe]

16. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, cory.

[a la izquierda]

22. Fox shouldn't have bowed to Bushco when he was in office.