Pubdate: Fri, 06 Nov 2015
Source: Independent  (UK)
Copyright: 2015 Independent Newspapers (UK) Ltd.
Contact:  http://www.independent.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/209

MEXICAN WAIVER

Marijuana Legalisation Will Help Poor 'Supply' Nations

An absurd status quo has held sway in Mexico, ever since the United 
States began to legalise marijuana, for medical, and, more recently, 
recreational use. The nation - encouraged by Washington - has some of 
the strictest drug laws in Latin America. But the vast majority of 
the marijuana it produces ends up in the US. So Mexican law 
enforcement officials - complying with the demands of their American 
counterparts - have been expending massive resources on preventing 
the growth and trafficking of a drug that is often, by the time it 
ends up being smoked within US borders, entirely legal.

This state of affairs may not last much longer. The ripple-effects of 
legalisation in Colorado and Denver have spread south, and this week 
the Mexican Supreme Court issued a ruling - small in practice, 
momentous in its symbolism - that seems likely to lead to effective 
decriminalisation. Four activists will be allowed to grow their own 
marijuana, for personal consumption, setting a precedent that invites 
further legal challenge to the entirety of Mexico's laws on marijuana.

And the greater absurdity of prohibition in Mexico is how much it has 
cost the country, and how little has been gained. Billions have been 
spent, the cartels remain brutally dominant, and Mexico's political 
system is as corrupt as ever.

Legalising marijuana may not pose much trouble to the likes of Los 
Zetas, a particularly bloodthirsty drug gang, as they can shift focus 
to other revenue streams. But it would be a start. The true costs of 
the drug war have for too long been outsourced to poor, producer 
nations, such as Mexico. Now that America - which began the war - is 
considering alternative approaches, it is to be hoped that more 
dominoes start falling in the countries that feed its population's 
insatiable desire for a high.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom