Legalization: Mexicans, US question drug legalization proposal

Here is more on the Mexican debate over drug legalization

Mexicans, US question drug legalization proposal: "A former Mexican president's (Vicente Fox) proposal to legalize drugs as a way of breaking the economic power of drug cartels is stoking debate inside his country and bringing opposition in Washington. One thing most experts agreed on is that the idea is unlikely to prosper without similar moves to legalize or regulate the sale of drugs in the United States, the main consumer of drugs from Mexico. ...

The U.S. State Department said Monday that "the question of debating the legalization of drugs is for Mexicans to decide." But a State Department spokeswoman who was not authorized to be quoted by name also said that the department's position is that "we don't believe legalization is the answer." ...

Jorge Chabat, a Mexican expert on drug cartels, said that "in my opinion, legalize everything and regulate everything ... that could really affect the finances of the drug cartels, especially if the government were the supplier" of drugs. Chabat said if the U.S. doesn't take that path, "they won't be able to do it here ... the pressure of the United States would be brutal." ...

President Calderon (who opposes legalization) said, in a weekend radio interview, "If there isn't a generalized, universal legalization policy across the world, and mainly in the main drug consumer, the United States, there won't even be any economic benefits, because the price is determined by the American market."" August 10, 2010, AP

AMB editor's comment: On what does the US State Department (and the Obama administration) base its '"belief" that legalization is not the answer?