Mexico's Ex-President Vicente Fox: Legalize Drugs

[Judi Lynn]

Mexico's Ex-President Vicente Fox: Legalize Drugs
By IOAN GRILLO / SAN FRANCISCO DEL RINCON Ioan Grillo / San Francisco Del Rincon – 2 hrs 28 mins ago

As Mexico drowns in drug related bloodshed - suffering almost 12,000 murders in 2010 - it is perhaps unsurprising that government critics turn up their screaming that the war on drugs isn't working. But it was a bit of a bombshell when former president Vicente Fox added his voice to the chorus. The cowboy-boot wearing leader, who ruled Mexico from 2000 to 2006, had once declared the "mother of all battles" against crime and rounded up drug kingpins. But before he left office, he had witnessed the first big spike in violence as the narcos retaliated. In August of 2010, evidence surfaced that his vision had changed when he wrote on his blog that prohibition wasn't working. Now, in a recent interview with TIME in his hometown in Central Mexico, he explains that his views have moved on to the other end of the spectrum: favoring full-on legalization of production, transit and selling of prohibited drugs. Fox is most explicit about marijuana, but argues that the principle applied to all illegal drugs.

"Prohibition didn't work in the Garden of Eden. Adam ate the apple," says Fox, 68, looking relaxed in a polo shirt - in contrast to his stressful last days in office. "We have to take all the production chain out of the hands of criminals and into the hands of producers - so there are farmers that produce marijuana and manufacturers that process it and distributors that distribute it, and shops that sell it... I don't want to say that legalizing means that drugs are good. They are not good but bad for your health and you shouldn't take them. But ultimately, this responsibility is with citizens." (See generation narco Mexico's lost youth.)

~snip~
Fox is the latest of a series of former Latin American presidents to question the war on drugs. In 2009, former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo, former Colombian president Cesar Gaviria (who oversaw the killing of cocaine cowboy Pablo Escobar) and former Brazilian head Fernando Cardoso all released a statement saying the war on drugs has failed. However, typical of the drug debate, the politicians have all made such statements upon leaving office, with drug legalization long seen as a toxic vote loser. Fox argues that his position has changed because the situation itself has changed and prohibition has now become far more costly for Mexico.

"Every idea has its time," Fox says. "When I was in government, things were not as bad as they are now. There is a growing cost in not resolving this problem, in not finding a form of truce, a way to avoid the brutal violence that is hurting Mexico. The cost is growing exponentially... I see important businessmen leaving and going to San Antonio, Houston, Dallas. We are losing in many things: tourism is stagnant, trade on the border, night clubs, hotels are all stuck. We don't deserve to pay this price."

More:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20110120/wl_time/08599204088200

[social_critic]

1. Excellent idea

I've been saying we should legalize drugs for a long time. It's better to invest in clinics and education than weapons and fixing people full of bullet holes.

[bemildred]

2. Well, I suppose that's the "upside" of the disaster in Mexico.

The longer that reform is stonewalled, the more radical and abrupt the change is going to be when it comes,