Vicente Fox, Mexico's Ex-President: Legalize Drugs

TIME:

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.

Read the whole story: TIME

Comments

[acorus]

04:00 PM on 03/07/2011

this isn't rocket science, the viability of the market is what keeps this war rolling in cash and blood, the police state requires it to pay their salaries, the military gets infused with funding, and the only way to stop it in it's tracks is to remove the viability of the market, ie. either stop americans from consuming all their favorite white powders (which is highly unlikely) or legalize it and put all these smugglers out of bidnis, but it's too lucrative for all concerned, just like afghanistan

[latinonationreport]

12:05 AM on 01/24/2011

Fox is right on this one!! And in agreement with other noted American conservativos like Milton Friedman and Fox Business' John Stossel! I don't say this much, but for the sake of the lives of so many Mexican and Americans..! Viva la Legalizacion!
www.latinonationreport.com

[CoastalNC]

12:13 PM on 01/21/2011

Prohibition is not working.....and where have we heard that before....it is time to end this stupid war on drugs that does not work and cost excessive money and lives here and in Mexico.

[oldlib127]

11:46 AM on 01/21/2011

The "Law of supply and demand" states that demands will be supplied by someone, the difficulty of supplying that demand only increases the cost. When we, as a society, make something illegal we only drive the supply of that something to the black market. This provides a revenue stream for the criminals that is so profitable that violence over supply routes and distribution outlets is the logical and predictable result of our short sightedness. The amount of money also leads to the corruption of our public officials at all levels that is contributing to the decline of our society. IMO legalization and regulation of drugs is a necessary step in ending the violence in our society.

[CoastalNC]

12:14 PM on 01/21/2011

f & f

[iuriggs6]

10:48 AM on 01/21/2011

I don't want a bunch of drug abusers walking around my city legally in front of my children. I don't want a bunch of "drug stores" showing up in every strip mall in every town. I don't want a world where my children can just go to the corner store and buy drugs when they are old enough legally. What parent would want that for any of their children?

[oldlib127]

11:16 AM on 01/21/2011

Most scientist include alcohol as a drug. Alcohol is most likely the most abused drug inthe world. You can find alcohol in every city or town. Do you include alcohol in your list of drugs?

[iuriggs6]

11:33 AM on 01/21/2011

Ummmmm, this article is not about alcohol.

[AddictionWatch]

04:20 PM on 01/23/2011

Yes alcohol is a drug, is legal and kills more people every year than all other drugs combined, legal and illegal. Legalizing drugs is not the answer. At one time they were legal and caused damage and then were made illegal as a result. Legalizing would be going backward. Its all about stopping it at origin and thats with the user or potential user's.

[drjasonmd]

11:24 AM on 01/21/2011

What parent wants their child growing up in a war zone?

Posted from Mexico.

[nanimal]

08:17 AM on 01/21/2011

I completely agree with the former Mexican President...we need to legalize drugs which would take the money and guns out of it. We can spend the trillions of dollars spent on the so called war on drugs for treatment facilities...this is the only way we can solve this problem with the drug cartels.

[abuginyoursoup]

08:03 AM on 01/21/2011

Of course prohibition doesn't work. All it does is "criminalize" natural and "unstoppable" human behavior.
Legalization is the only answer.
But the pharmaceutical and private prison industries which can buy politicians and judges will never allow legalization.
So we're stuck throwing gazillions of taxpayer dollars at this boondoggle...

[Steelsil]

02:33 AM on 01/21/2011

I see Fox's point.  Mexico is coming apart at the seams.  It's either legalize, or death squads, or anarchy.  So far, anarchy looks the most likely.  It's like Mad Max near the border.

[drjasonmd]

10:47 PM on 01/20/2011

You can't solve public health problems with military tactics.

[Reiner-von-Sinn]

10:31 PM on 01/20/2011

It's high time to end the prohibition.

[Reiner-von-Sinn]

10:30 PM on 01/20/2011

I agree.

But he's a spineless coward unworthy of "leader". He never advocated legalization while in a position to do something about it.

[drjasonmd]

10:43 PM on 01/20/2011

Actually he did. Fox wrote a bill decriminalizing personal possession of all drugs, including heroine and cocaine. He fought tooth and nail to push it through our legislature, a battle that took over a year. When the law finally passed, our favorite US "news" commentator Lou Dobbs almost had a conniption, GOP senators got on the tube stating that their kids were going to be going on spring break trips to Mexico to get wasted (like they don't already). Two days later, Condi Rice gave our democratically-elected president a call.

Fox vetoed his own bill the next day.

It's not so simple to just legalize as people may think. Every country faces huge UN sanctions that automatically go into effect if they do not agree to combat drugs. Treaty obligations are keeping a lot of governments from doing what they already know is right. Those treaties were insisted upon by the US back when they ruled the world. Mexico is not the only country debating legalizing drugs. This debate is going on all over Latin America. I think it's one more sign that US hegemony is on the wain.

Someday this war's gonna end.

[abuginyoursoup]

08:17 AM on 01/21/2011

F&F
As usual, an intelligent and informed post.
Always a pleasure to read you.
I see you have yet to seek medical treatment to remove the remains of the twin you ate when prenatal.

The former "fly"...

[Balzac]

08:29 PM on 01/20/2011

I agree.

[StopThePlanet]

07:31 PM on 01/20/2011

Nearly everyone who has dealt with this problem firsthand arrives at the conclusion that our current cure is worse than the disease.  There is plenty of documented evidence with alcohol on how to manage the problem rather than exacerbate it.

[abouttime]

07:20 PM on 01/20/2011

Every time Mexico gets serious about legalizing cocaine, marijuana, opiates, et al, they get a visit from U.S. "diplomats" reminding them that serious consequences to their relationship with the US will be considered. It normally has to do with threats about money, tariffs, and other sanctions.
It could have to do with Big Pharma's preferences. I wonder if Wikileaks has released cables regarding our blackmail policy their?

[drjasonmd]

10:46 PM on 01/20/2011

Actually, we've already decriminalized possession of small amounts; we just did it quietly this time so that Lou Dobbs wouldn't have the opportunity to tell us how to run our country.

Wikileaks only has a bunch of mostly-worthless diplomatic cables. They didn't get their hands on any of the top-secret CIA stuff. Considering how many planes crash here loaded down with cocaine, piloted by documented CIA contractors, only to find out they were owned by a CIA brass plate company in Florida, I'd say that's the only place you're gonna find those secrets.

[Steelsil]

02:35 AM on 01/21/2011

If Assange had gotten hold of CIA stuff, he would have disappeared.

[mavalos]

06:44 PM on 01/20/2011

Drug Prohibition is hurting more people in this country than the drugs themselves. Drug Prohibition only works if 100% of society agrees.