The Word "Narcotics" Distorts The Drug Debate

On Aug. 3, President Felipe Calderon of Mexico called for a national debate on the legalization of drugs.

Shortly afterwards, former president Vicente Fox demanded the outright legalization of all drugs in order to remove the monopoly guaranteed to the drug trafficking organizations by the current state of prohibition. A year earlier, three other former Latin American presidents--Fernando Cardoso of Brazil, Cesar Gaviria of Colombia, and Ernesto Zedillo of Mexico--issued a report explaining why Latin American nations and the United States should abandon the "War on Drugs" and consider legalization as part of an initiative to begin treating drug use as a public health issue rather than a criminal issue.

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