Mexican President Felipe Calderon calls for debate on legalizing Marijuana

[Better Believe It]

Former Police Chief Urges Obama to Join Mexican President Calderon in Debate on Legalizing Marijuana
By: Michael Whitney
August 4, 2010

As Mexico’s government announced the death toll in the four-year-long war with drug cartels totaled more than 28,000, President Felipe Calderon called for a debate on legalizing drugs to fight the cartels.

“It’s a fundamental debate in which I think, first of all, you must allow a democratic plurality (of opinions),” he said. “You have to analyze carefully the pros and cons and the key arguments on both sides.”

Three former presidents — Cesar Gaviria of Colombia, Ernesto Zedillo of Mexico and Fernando Cardoso of Brazil — urged Latin American countries last year to consider legalizing marijuana to undermine a major source of income for cartels. And Mexico’s congress also has debated the issue.

But Calderon has so far said he is opposed to the idea.

Despite Calderon’s feelings on legalization, his call for debate is an encouraging step forward. But it’s not the first call for legalization from Mexico’s government. In December 2009, a Mexican official said that “there is no other argument or solution other than legalization, at least of marijuana.”

Growing numbers of Mexican and U.S. officials say—at least privately—that the biggest step in hurting the business operations of Mexican cartels would be simply to legalize their main product: marijuana. Long the world’s most popular illegal drug, marijuana accounts for more than half the revenues of Mexican cartels.

“Economically, there is no argument or solution other than legalization, at least of marijuana,” said the top Mexican official matter-of-factly. The official said such a move would likely shift marijuana production entirely to places like California, where the drug can be grown more efficiently and closer to consumers. “Mexico’s objective should be to make the U.S. self-sufficient in marijuana,” he added with a grin.

In response to Mexican President Felipe Calderon’s call for a debate on legalization, Norm Stamper, a 34-year veteran police officer who was Seattle’s chief of police and is now a speaker with the group Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) and an adviser to our Just Say Now campaign, called on President Obama to join the debate on legalizing marijuana.

Read the full article at:

http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2010/08/04/former-police-chief-urges-president-obama-to-join-mexican-president-calderon-in-debate-on-legalizing-marijuana/

[spanone]

1. duh

[Oregone]

2. Itll be tough for them to compete with California if they don't

If they want to retain their market share of the cannabis trade in the US, they have to do this IMO. The playing field will be greatly skewed if they don't (California exporters will not have to deal with the same amounts of violence while manufacturing their crops)