Mexico Reacts to US Marijuana Legalization Votes
Mexican officials are reacting with a mixture of bemusement and frustration after residents in two US states, Colorado and Washington, voted to legalize marijuana. Some are calling for the legalization of Mexican marijuana exports, while others, including key advisors to incoming President Enrique Pena Nieto, are saying that Mexico will have to "rethink" its drug policies in the wake of the vote.
[image:1 align:left caption:true]Mexico has seen as many as 60,000 people killed in the last six years as the government of outgoing President Felipe Calderon declared war on the so-called cartels, which traffic large quantities of Mexican marijuana to the US, as well as methamphetamine, heroin, and cocaine. The Mexican government has grown increasingly frustrated with what it sees as US laxity when it comes to fighting the drug war north of the border, especially with the broad acceptance of medical marijuana in states where it is legal.
And now, two states have moved to okay outright legalization.
In an interview the day after the elections reported by the Associated Press, key Pena Nieto advisor Luis Videgaray, who is heading the new president's transition team, said that his government remains opposed to drug legalization, but that the votes in Colorado and Washington complicated its efforts to prosecute the drug war.
"Obviously we can't handle a product that is illegal in Mexico, trying to stop its transfer to the United States, when in the United States, at least in part of the United States, it now has a different status," Videgaray said. "I believe this obliges us to think the relationship in regards to security. This is an unforeseen element. These important modifications change somewhat the rules of the game in the relationship with the United States. I think that we have to carry out a review of our joint policies in regards to drug trafficking and security in general."
Videgraray's remarks come just three weeks before Pena Nieto is scheduled to meet with President Obama in Washington.
Conversely, Cesar Duarte, governor of the violence-plagued state of Chihuahua, said Wednesday that the legalization votes north of the border offered a "very clear" hint on what Mexico should do: legalize marijuana exports.
"It seems to me that we should move to authorize exports," Duarte told Reuters in an interview. "We would therefore propose organizing production for export, and with it no longer being illegal, we would have control over a business which today is run by criminals, and which finances criminals."
If the US doesn't want to prosecute the drug war -- as evidenced by the votes in Colorado and Washington -- asked Duarte, why should Mexico?
"We can't go on suffering for the effects of America's vices," he said.
Comments
Its not like America is the
Its not like America is the only place where people smoke pot. Mexico is also not the only place that cocaine meth and heroin come from. I know or have known people that have produced all of those things here at home in my town in houses not far away from mine. When I was a child I lived across the street from a meth lab. We accidentally busted them one day when my mom called the cops because they hung a sign over there doorbell that said "Got dope?" I know dozens of people that grow marijuana and a few that grow crops legally and illegally. I've had friends that manufacture Opium on a large scale from time to time which in turn gets sold to the people who make it into heroin. What are we going to do? Outlaw poppies next?
War is Over!
Next will be Uruguay, then...
The drug war is dead.
War is Over!
"Pena Nieto advisor Luis
"Pena Nieto advisor Luis Videgaray, who is heading the new president's transition team, said that his government remains opposed to drug legalization, but that the votes in Colorado and Washington complicated its efforts to prosecute the drug war."
Mexico has got it wrong on this one. CO and WA will be producing their own marijuana. So this means that legalization has been a blow to Mexican marijuana imports. This is just drug war rhetoric to get the US to clamp down on drugs so that Mexico can get their market share back. Who are they kidding?
Green Tsunami
What does Videgaray mean when he say`s " This is an unforeseen element " ? . Since when did Cannabis legalization become an " unforeseen element " ? . Really ? The drug war is a fool`s errand to begin with . Will Mexican marijuana be readily available in the U.S.A. for $10/oz. shortly ? Human`s waging war against a plant is pure folly of the highest order .
Excessive taxation
It's not like the WA law is going to hurt the black market.I'm seeing the figure $12 per gram for legal marijuana.Over $300 per ounce for a dried plant?Anyone with any sense can see a profit to be made from that.I can buy 1 ounce of imported oregano for $1,until legal marijuana costs what it's worth for a dried plant the black market will always be involved in the marijuana market.
Excessive taxation is just a different form of punishment for something that is not criminal or immoral behavior.
The president elect of Mexico
In reply to The president elect of Mexico by Galactic Traveler (not verified)
Sure
If the drug war was just about cannabis,like many seem to think it is,it may be in the beginning of the end.However,the real drugs,the truly addictive drugs are still in play.Mexico is right up there in the production of heroin,the transport of cocaine and the production of methamphetamine.Vancouver,on the other end produces or imports the vast majority of the MDMA and other designer drugs.Until there is an end to all criminalization of drugs the drug war continues.For every cannabis smoker there will be someone who wants to experiment.As long as the cartels are in charge they will have an easy opportunity.Or are we going to try to jail our way out of all the other drugs?In Europe,they tackled the hard stuff first.We could be making a big mistake here.
The president elect of Mexico
is just pissed that the USA will soon be producing the best cannabis and cannabis products in the world, bar none. This will ruin the cartels. Nobody will want to buy any of their inferior quality product, which means that politicians and their cronies in the US and Mexico will no longer be profiting off of the misery and suffering of the Mexican people under the rule of the cartels. Good riddance, I say, and welcome to the era of grown-in-the USA DANK.
oops
Sorry for the duplicate.
Mexico Responded Before the US?
I think it is interesting that the Mexican government has responded before the US. My prediction is the feds will continue as they have with medical mj. They’ve never challenged a state mmj law in court. Instead, they’ve become the American equivalent of the Mexican cartels. Rather than settling their difference with the states in court, they send in their heavily armed gunman to make a point. I think they’ll continue to do the same in CO and WA until someone forces them to stop.
In a word
MONEY!
Free the plant, free the people
Once the most useful plant on the planet is allowed to be grown by anyone and in any amount the price will be like corn or beans and the criminal element will no longer exist as there will be very little money in it. Food,clothing, shelter, energy, medicine, insight, re-creation. Free the plant , free the people.
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