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Mexican Drug War

Feature: Mexico and Argentina Enact Drug Decriminalization

The drug policy wheel is turning, and the US and its hard-line repressive drug policies are becoming increasingly isolated in the hemisphere as in the past week alone 150 million Latin Americans came under one form of decriminalization or another.

Latin America: Mexican Decriminalization Bill Now Law of the Land

A bill that decriminalizes the possession of small amounts of drug for personal use is now the law of the land in Mexico. Although there was some doubt President Calderon would approve it, it appeared in the official gazette Thursday. It also includes provisions to allow the state and localities to go after small-time drug dealers, a power previously reserved to the federal government.

Mexico Violence Fueling Calls for Legalization

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With nearly two million annual visitors to our web site, StoptheDrugWar.org is the #1 source for news, information and activism promoting sensible drug reform and an end to prohibition worldwide.

The more we do at StoptheDrugWar.org, the faster the reform movement will grow and the sooner minds, laws and lives will change.

If you follow our weekly Mexico Drug War Update -- a resource cited widely by sites across the Internet -- then you're aware not only how the Mexico President Calderon's escalation of the drug war has plunged his country into appalling drug war violence, but also of the increasing chorus of voices calling for alternatives. Yes, even for legalization:
  • In December, the conservative Wall Street Journal discussed the case for legalization in an article titled "Saving Mexico."
  • In February, Colombia's former President Cesar Gaviria Diaz, a former drug war supporter, told a conference in Mexico City that "With the passing of time, prohibitionism, in which I believed, has demonstrated itself a failure."
  • Also in February, Mexico's former president, Vicente Fox, in a speech in Santa Barbara said that legalizing drugs in Mexico could have the same effect that ending alcohol prohibition had here in the United Stated in 1993, removing the incentives for criminals.

With the public's attention here as well as in Mexico focused on the violence just across our border, now is the time to influence public opinion about prohibition and the need for legalization. With your support StoptheDrugWar.org will continue to publish important weekly features like the Mexico Drug War Update that effectively make the case, simply by reporting the facts consistently and making clear what the role of prohibition is. We believe that time will show our strategy of educating the media, policymakers and opinion leaders through online publishing is working and helping to change minds, laws and lives sooner rather than later.
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