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Mexico's Calderon Continues Shift Toward Drug Legalization Support

Felipe Calderón with George Bush (whitehouse.gov)
Via Drug WarRant, an interview in Time magazine with Mexican Pres. Felipe Calderón:

Is it true that you would like to see America legalize drugs?

I can hit the criminals, I can put them in jails, I can take control of their structures, I can rebuild the social fabric. But if Americans don't reduce the demand or don't reduce at least the profits coming from the black market for drugs, it will be impossible to solve this problem.

So the answer is yes?

I want to see a serious analysis of the alternatives, and one alternative is to explore the different legal regimes about drugs. Even in the U.S., you can see states in which marijuana is ... if that is not legal, I don't understand what legal means. No? Marijuana has some kind of "medical" use, for instance, no?

At 42,000+ drug war killings in Mexico since Pres. Calderón took office, he'd better be talking about legalization. Sooner would have been better than later. But we'll take it.

Good to see Time bringing this up too -- kudos to intellectually intrepid reporter Belinda Luscombe. The major media is finally breaking its longstanding mostly silence about the drug war as prohibition, and not just marijuana prohibition.

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Re-enactment of the Monroe Doctrine...with a sting in the tail

 

Calderón’s incisive reply to the last question in said interview brilliantly sums up what is wrong (as in pharisaical, cynical and self-serving) with the US stance on drugs:

So, what’s your favorite American food?
Mexican

Gart Valenc

http://www.stopthewarondrugs.org

Good, but he sounds so uneducated about MMJ

I was going to call him an ignoramus on the subject, but since he has changed his tone some, I'll do the same. But he sounds like he's never read anything even semi-serious on the subject. Someone should mail him a summary of what is known, suspected and still needs to be investigated regarding medicinal marijuana. Maybe he just needs to educated on the subject.

Still, his change of tone is quite welcome. Who knows where it might lead.

 

 

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