It has been forty years since President Richard Nixon declared a “war on drugs.” But in reality – not much has been changed since then, and the volume of illegal drugs sold did not decrease. Quite the contrary.
The biggest supplier of marijuana to US is Mexico, and Mexican officials agree that this war is not winnable. A week ago a major drug trafficker was gunned down by Mexican Navy Special Forces, but that only brought more drug-related violence out on the streets and the murders of family members of officers involved in the operation. The drug trafficker was responsible for organizing smuggles for several billion dollars worth of illegal drugs, as cocaine and marijuana, into the States over the past several years. The Mexican officials say that probably the most effective move in this “war on drugs” would be legalizing its main product – marijuana. It is suspected that in addition to eliminating marijuana trafficking over the border, it will more than likely shift its production to California, where the plants can be grown more efficiently and closer to consumers. After all, it was the U.S. anti-drug policy that helped Mexican gangs gain power.
Some time ago, three former presidents of Latin America – Ernesto Zedillo of Mexico, Cesar Gaviria of Colombia and Fernando Henrique Cardoso of Brazil – said that the governments should seriously consider legalizing marijuana as an effective tool against murderous drug gangs.