Drug War Debate: US "willing to listen to 'legitimate' debate on drugs" at Summit of the Americas

Milenio/EFE: "The U.S. government said today that it is willing to listen to the views of all countries in the  "legitimate" debate about the war on drugs at the Summit of the Americas, but insisted that, for the administration of President Barack Obama, legalization "is not the solution."

"We are ready to have a good dialogue between all countries to hear their views," said John Feely, coordinator for the Summit of the Americas for the U.S. State Department, in a conference at the Center for Analysis for Inter-American Dialogue in Washington.

"The United States recognizes that the debate on new policies for the war on drugs" is legitimate," but "for us, frankly, legalization is not the solution," said Feely. For the U.S., which admits its "responsibility" in relation to drug use, "legalization" is not on the table," he reaffirmed.

The Colombian president, Juan Manuel Santos, who will host the summit to be held in Cartagena on April14 and 15, has said that one of the topics to be discussed is the problem of drug trafficking and the measures taken to combat it in recent decades, without the expected results for the continent.

The president of Guatemala, Otto Perez, advocates the decriminalization of drugs and will meet with his Central American counterparts on March 24 to discuss their proposal prior to the Summit of the Americas.

The coordinator for the Summit of the Americas from the Foreign Ministry of Colombia, Jaime Giron, said, at the same conference, that to initiate a discussion about drugs at Cartagena "is a good start," even though no consensus is reached. read more