Mexican Drug War

Daniel Robelo, a research associate at the Drug Policy Alliance, points out that multiple former and current national leaders are calling for a debate about legalizing drugs to reduce the killings in Mexico, and the issue has made front page news and is causing unprecedented debate around the world. Yet, sadly, legalization is not even part of the policy dialogue in D.C. In fact, the U.S. drug czar has repeatedly said it's not even part of his or President Obama's "vocabulary."

With the Mexican drug war's popularity plummeting and calls for legalizing marijuana get louder, Luis Hernandez Navarro describes what he sees as the price of President Calderón's popularity bid -- 29,000 dead, human rights leaders murdered, and the Mexican constitution violated.

In lieu of ending drug prohibition and stripping the drug traffickers of their ability to function, the Mexican government has put together a $270 million rescue package for Ciudad Juarez. The campaign is called "Todos Somos Juárez" -- "We are all Juarez". Few believe the campaign can turn the city around anytime soon.

Mexico's prisons are infested with internal crime, drug use, bad treatment and corruption. At some prisons, inmates are allowed to leave, provided with weapons, and loaned police vehicles to carry out their dirty work. Essentially, they use the prison itself as a safe house.

Thousands of Mexican journalists demonstrated during the weekend as part of protests across Mexico asking authorities to do more to safeguard members of the news media from drug prohibition-fueled violence. Aggression against journalists has increased from both law enforcement agents and drug trafficking organizations.

It looks like the Mexicans are finally understanding the folly of drug prohibition. Last week, Mexico's President Felipe Calderon agreed to open the door to discussions about the legalization of drugs. Now, Mexico's former president, Vicente Fox, is joining with those urging Calderon to legalize drugs in Mexico, saying that legalization could break the economic power of the country's brutal drug trafficking organizations.