Mexican Congress debates legalizing marijuana

Mexican Congress debates legalizing marijuana

You’ll never guess who is having a serious debate on legalizing marijuana.

Mexico’s Congress opened a three-day debate Monday on the merits of legalizing marijuana for personal use, a policy backed by three former Latin American presidents who warned that a crackdown on drug cartels is not working. Although President Felipe Calderon has opposed the idea, the unprecedented forum shows legalizing marijuana is gaining support in Mexico amid brutal drug violence.

It looks like Mexico is tired of dealing with the consequences of the Americans drug war. Watching your country deal with a bloodbath in the streets focuses the mind and the attention of real politicians that love their country. I can only wish that the US congress would take three days to discuss a legalization strategy, we can’t even get 30 minutes here.

The congressional discussion takes on a subject “that had been taboo” in our country, said opposition lawmaker Javier Gonzalez, adding that his Democratic Revolution Party supports legalizing personal marijuana consumption. “What we don’t want is to criminalize youths for consuming or possessing marijuana,” he said.

“It’s clear that a totally prohibitive policy has not been a solution for all ills,” said Interior Department official Blanca Heredia. “At the same time, it’s illusory to imagine that complete legalization of marijuana would be a panacea.”

The goal of this debate is to clear the air about the subject and isn’t expected to result in any formal bills, especially since Barrack Obama is going to arrive the day after the debate concludes. Mexico flirted with legalization in 2006 but was intimidated by the U.S. to scrapping the measure. Let’s hope our Government is of a more open mind about it this time. If Mexico does introduce a legalization bill, the reaction of the U.S. could be very telling as to how the Obama administration will handle it’s own internal marijuana issues.