New U.S. Marijuana Laws Impact Latin America's Fight Against Drug Trafficking

U.S. Marijuana Laws Impact Latin America's Fight Against Drugs
File - In this Feb. 1, 2011 file photo, Harborside Health Center employee Gerard Barber stands behind medical marijuana clone plants at the dispensary in Oakland, Calif. A Northern California medical marijuana dispensary that bills itself as the nation's largest retail purveyor of pot goes to court Thursday Dec. 20, 2012 to fight the local federal prosecutor's effort to shut it down. Lawyers for Harborside Health Center and the city of Oakland are asking a federal judge to let the dispensary stay in business until a court decides if the government is exceeding its authority by going after businesses that comply with state medical marijuana laws. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)
File - In this Feb. 1, 2011 file photo, Harborside Health Center employee Gerard Barber stands behind medical marijuana clone plants at the dispensary in Oakland, Calif. A Northern California medical marijuana dispensary that bills itself as the nation's largest retail purveyor of pot goes to court Thursday Dec. 20, 2012 to fight the local federal prosecutor's effort to shut it down. Lawyers for Harborside Health Center and the city of Oakland are asking a federal judge to let the dispensary stay in business until a court decides if the government is exceeding its authority by going after businesses that comply with state medical marijuana laws. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)

President Obama has yet to deliver a clear response to the November decision by Colorado and Washington to legalize recreational marijuana use — asked whether the government would enforce federal laws that override the verdict of those states’ referendums, he answered simply that he has “bigger fish to fry.” But leaders from across Latin America responded within days of the Colorado and Washington vote, demanding a review of drug-war policies that have mired the region in violence. Latin American decisionmakers are now openly questioning why they should continue to sacrifice police and soldiers to enforce drug laws when legal markets for marijuana now exist in the U.S.

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