Column by Jose de la Isla, who writes a weekly commentary for Hispanic Link News Service.
De la Isla: Let's add addiction to war on drugs | ScrippsNews: "Mexico President Felipe Calderon told the Conference of the Americas in Washington, D.C. on May 11 U.S. drug policy needed 'coherence' to help him out in his violent war on drugs.
A speech like this might easily be dismissed as his way to deflect some of the reproof. ...
Calderon's approach is a daunting one to correct 100 years of minor (sic) governmental and judicial corruption. That may be one reason why his call for "coherence" is one to listen to. It is also a call for help, a sign of realism and a way to gain a foothold on drug production and distribution, rather than simply plan the next skirmish. ...
But Calderon's in-sync posturing is also disingenuousness. On the one hand he says he is open to discussions about legalization. On the other, he criticizes the practice of medical marijuana.
Does he know better ways to cut demand and exit criminal elements? What these words really mean is that policymakers are at a loss about what to do, how to do it, or whether they want to do it. ...
it's time to take the crime out of drugs and criminals out of distributing them. The hundreds of billions of illegal drug dollars circulating in the world's financial and commercial systems need to be applied to in legal activity."
The MexicoBlog of the Americas Program, a fiscally sponsored program of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), is written by Laura Carlsen. I monitor and analyze international press on Mexico, with a focus on security, immigration, human rights and social movements for peace and justice, from a feminist perspective. And sometimes I simply muse.
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