- Cesar Gaviria
- , Decriminalization
- , Ernesto Zedillo
- , Fernando Henrique Cardoso
- , Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy
- , Legalization
- , Vincente Fox
Former Mexican President Calls for Legalization
May 15th, 2009 by RickA whirlwind tour of the three four amigos, ex leaders of Latin American nations, has blown in that calls for the decriminalization and legalization of marijuana.
On Tuesday, Vincente Fox told CNN:
I believe it’s time to open the debate over legalizing drugs. [...] It must be done in conjunction with the United States, but it is time to open the debate.
Former president of Mexico Vincente Fox, former president of MexicoErnesto Zedillo, the former leader of Columbia Cesar Gaviria, and the former president of Brazil Fernando Henrique Cardoso, are all members of the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy. In a February, at a meeting in Brazil, the organization wanted to change the policies with the war on drugs.
Gaviria said:
The problem is that current policies are based on prejudices and fears and not on results.
Cardoso said that their organization was only interested in legalizing marijuana and not all illegal drugs, citing that “you have to start somewhere”. Fox also says that since marijuana is predominantly consumed in the United States, Washington has to support any moves toward legalization.
Back in Febrauary, Gaviria said now is the right time to start the debate:
In many states in the United States, as is the case in California, they have begun to change federal policies with regard to tolerating marijuana for therapeutic purposes. And in Washington there’s some consensus that the current policy is failing.
Fox acknowledged the fact that the current President of Mexico, Felipe Calderon, has chosen to send in the army to battle the nation’s drug trafficking cartels.
If you go to war, you have to win it quickly and according to regulations. [...] Human rights are very important. [...] It also is important that the United States “accept its responsibility. [...] I would like to see some steps taken here in the United States. We see the drugs are coming across the border and are distributed in Atlanta and Washington and Chicago and all parts of the country.
Critics and opponents of their stance claim that the issue needs to be viewed at a global level, because they don’t want one area to be designated as a drug paradise. They realize that violence connected to the drugs may indeed by reduced but feel there would be some sort of social damage.
