Drug Policy Debate: Why military hawks are leading drug legalization debate in Latin America

CSMonitor.com: "If you were to place Felipe Calderon, Juan Manuel Santos, and Otto Perez Molina on the hemisphere's outdated left-right ideological spectrum, all three are well on the right side of the center line. All three are pro-military and all three have deployed their military forces to combat drug traffickers and criminal organizations. All three are strong allies of the United States. And in the past few months, all three have raised the real possibility of decriminalization of drugs in their countries and the region.

.. I compare the stances of the three leaders to a "Nixon goes to China" event. These are the three leaders in the hemisphere who have the political capital to pull off such a dramatic stance on the "war on drugs." While several respected former presidents have made similar calls, they carried less influence being that they are already out of office and they lacked the hawkish security credentials. The recent statements by Calderon, Santos, and Perez carry more weight." read more