Latin America Tries for a Kinder, Gentler Strategy on War on Drugs thespec.com
go to original July 7, 2013

... It isn't clear where official policy on illegal drugs is headed in the Western Hemisphere, but the ground is definitely shifting.

The changes are perhaps especially notable in the U.S., where voters in two states, Washington and Colorado, have opted to legalize possession of marijuana for personal use. These measures plainly violate federal law but they are being implemented nonetheless, so far without interference from the White House.

As a result, the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama finds itself in an awkward position. How can the yanquis lecture Latin Americans on the prohibition of narcotics when they themselves seem to be moving in the opposite direction? There's a word for that in Spanish: hipocresia.

"A peasant cultivating marijuana in Colombia or Mexico is going to jail," says Mejia, "while the United States is legalizing the consumption of marijuana?"

You can see the problem. But what's the solution?

That's the question, and so far there's no unified answer. Still, there does seem to be general agreement among Latin Americans that the way ahead should not involve guns.

Read the rest at thespec.com

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