Drug War Politics: Calderon suggests legalizing drugs in U.S.

A look at the possible implications of President Calderon's recent proposal that the U.S. look at "market alternatives" to the drug war.

GlobalPost: "Flanked between Mexican and U.S. flags, President Felipe Calderon was unleashing his familiar tirade against drug gangs in a speech in New York on Monday. The cartels are carrying out mass murder, he said. They are a regional threat.

And then he dropped his bombshell. If the United States can’t cut demand for drugs, Calderon said, it must look for alternative solutions."

... The comment unleashed shockwaves on both sides of the Rio Grande. Here was a man who has waged the biggest campaign against drug gangs in Mexico’s history — and who U.S. President Barack Obama even called Mexico’s Elliot Ness — saying that the U.S. should consider legalizing drugs. Or is Calderon really saying that? The speech was actually the second time in less a month that the Mexican president had used his phrase “market alternatives.”

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