It seems that the support for the legalization of marijuana has gone beyond U.S. borders. Former Mexican president Fox has recently been very vocal about his efforts to legalize marijuana in Mexico and in the U.S. He believes that decriminalization could only improve a society and that recreational use should be allowed in all states, not just Washington and Colorado. The former Mexican president met with a couple of marijuana advocates to discuss his efforts and future plans. The attendees on that meeting included the executive director of California’s biggest marijuana dispensary Steve DeAngelo and ex-Microsoft big kahuna Jamen Shively. The latter has big plans on creating a recognizable and autochthone strain of marijuana specific for Seattle.
Less Blood, More Marijuana
One of the main reasons Fox is being very persistent in his struggle for the legalization of marijuana is that he hopes to reduce drug related criminal offenses in both Mexico and the U.S. He believes this is the only way to stop cartels from acting like mad dogs. We got America’s war on drugs to thank for that as well. The cost of those drug wars simply outweighs the benefits. Mexico and Latin America have a strong drug reputation that will be hard to fix even if they do legalize marijuana. Surely, marijuana is not their biggest and only problem. Tijuana comes to mind as a melting pot of drug addicts and drug dealers. However, the effort has to be commended and they have to start somewhere. Plus, a hefty amount of research has shown that states that have legalized marijuana have seen a decline in drug offenses. For comparison sake, 40 young people are killed on a daily basis as a result of a drug deal or a bust gone bad.
As any politician, Fox hasn’t always been this persistent in his attitude on the matter. For instance, during his presidency, he cooperated with the U.S. to shut down marijuana production facilities in Mexico between 2000 and 2006.However, in recent years he has been supporting marijuana legalization efforts as if somebody was paying him to do so. Since marijuana lobbyists are not that uncommon lately, let’s leave that option open for now. Unlike the former president, Mexico’s current president doesn’t hold a definitive stand on legalization of marijuana. Generally, he is against it but he will consider a shift in attitude if the world goes down a different path (i.e. Washington and Colorado).
International Summit on Marijuana Legalization
In San Francisco, Fox announced that he will be preparing an international summit in Mexico in order to create a strategy that will remove marijuana prohibition out of the picture once and for all. He seems to be quite serious about it as well. Some of the participants include the dean of Harvard’s School of Public Health, a Mexican congressman who plans to introduce a marijuana legalization bill in Mexico and an American surgeon. However, as promising as this all may sound, let’s not get our hopes up just yet. The majority of the Latin American public does not approve of marijuana legalization and that is not likely to change in the near future. In fact, all legalization efforts so far have gone down the drain. Still, Fox remains convinced that, with enough effort, this uphill battle could be won.
