Drugs: From “Co-Responsibility” to Legalization?

A little late, but the president of Mexico has finally realized that prohibition will not solve the problems of drug consumption and addictions, neither in Mexico nor in the United States. In this business, the state will never be able to win over the market: When there is a great demand, there will always be a supply, especially in such a profitable business as the sale of illegal drugs. Because of this, even though he might have been a bit tardy, I applaud that Calderon has changed his position. Now, in place of talking about “co-responsibility” in the narcotrafficking between both nations, the president proposes that the United States implement “market alternatives.”

In 2007, Calderon met with George W. Bush in Merida. Calderon’s time in office had just begun. He had already declared a war against organized crime and solicited the support of the United States. The concept emerged of both nations’ “co-responsibility” to combat the production, distribution and consumption of illegal drugs. According to a joint document that emerged from the meeting, “the presidents recognized the constant threat that organized crime and drug trafficking represents, especially the associated violence that does not respect borders. Both presidents underlined that the Mexican government’s important efforts to combat organized crime, understood as one of the most important priorities of its own agenda, could benefit from greater levels of support and cooperation from the United States.”*

Out of this meeting arose the Merida Initiative: “The United States and Mexico will make it a priority to break the power and impunity of drug and criminal organizations that threaten the health and public safety of their citizens and the stability and security of the region.” Bush solicited $500 million from Congress to finance cooperation with Mexico. The collaboration began to arrive in the form of equipment for the Federal Police and the Armed Forces.

Did this effort for co-responsibility work? The results demonstrate that it did not. Consumption in the United States, far from diminishing, grew. And the violence associated with drug trafficking in Mexico did as well.

Confronting this reality, Calderon finally changed the discourse related to the consumption of drugs in the United States. This is what he said this Friday: “It is my duty to make a call to the society, Congress and the government of the United States. I ask that they reflect on the tragedy that we are living in Mexico and many Latin American countries as a consequence, in great part, of the insatiable consumption of drugs in which millions and millions of Americans participate. The economic power and firepower of the criminal organizations that operate in Mexico and Latin America has to do with this endless demand for drugs in the United States. Mexico can no longer be the gateway, nor pay the consequences that this market generates. These consequences are translated not only into hundreds of billions of illicit dollars from the black market, but also into thousands of deaths as a consequence of the violence exercised by criminal groups tied to this business. This drug consumption must be reduced drastically […] If you are decided and resigned to consume drugs, search, then, for market alternatives that eliminate the stratospheric earnings of these criminals, or establish clear points for the entrance of drugs, points not located on the border with Mexico. But this situation cannot continue in the same direction.”

The president is right; the solution to the American consumption of drugs is a market alternative: sell them legally and regulate them, like with alcohol and tobacco. It is a shame that Calderon has realized this so late. However, this change must be celebrated. It seems that the president is joining the club of former Mexican presidents, like Zedillo and Fox, that are in favor of the legalization of drugs.

*Editor’s Note: This quotation, while accurately translated, could not be verified.