Brazil, Mexico, Colombia: US war on drugs has failed; decriminalize Marijuana

[FrankRep]

Cardoso, Gaviria, Zedillo Urge Obama to Decriminalize Marijuana

Bloomberg
Feb. 11, 2009

Former presidents of Brazil, Mexico and Colombia said the U.S.-led war on drugs has failed and urged President Barack Obama to consider new policies, including decriminalizing marijuana, and to treat drug use as a public health problem.

The recommendations by former Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, along with Ernesto Zedillo of Mexico and Cesar Gaviria of Colombia, were made in a report today by the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy.

Among the group’s proposals ahead of a special United Nations ministerial meeting in Vienna to evaluate global drug policy is a call to decriminalize the possession of cannabis for personal use.

“We need to break the taboo that’s blocking an honest debate,” Cardoso said at a press conference in Rio de Janeiro to present the report. “Numerous scientific studies show that the damage caused by marijuana is similar to that of alcohol or tobacco.”
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Full Story:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=ao_Yr_Is1T6E&refer=latin_america

[acptulsa]

And it is breaking the budgets of these three nations, and it is letting the CIA in and giving them power. Because, as we all know, the CIA does more than a few illegal things, and likes them to stay illegal.

[Zippyjuan]

Interesting given that Columbia and Mexico are the biggest exporters of drugs in this hemisphere. Mexico is fighting very hard to deal with the drug dealers and it has been pretty ugly and violent.