Drug War 2013: The Rise of Vigilantes, a Growing Call to Legalize Pot Agence France-Presse
go to original December 13, 2013

Fed up with the relentless drug cartel violence, civilians picked up rifles in Mexico's countryside this year, battling gangsters and challenging politicians to finally end the spiral of death.

While Mexicans struggled anew with murders, kidnappings and extortion, Uruguay opened a new front in the debate over the global war on drugs by creating a legal, state-run marijuana market.

Consumption continued to thrive worldwide, with new brands of designer drugs hitting nightclubs worldwide and a record 227 million methamphetamine pills seized in East and Southeast Asia in 2012, according to United Nations figures.

In Mexico, President Enrique Pena Nieto marked his first full year in power, pledging to reduce violence after more than 70,000 people were killed in the drug war during his predecessor's six-year term.

While the government says the number of murders has fallen, kidnappings and extortion have soared.

Read the rest at GlobalPost

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