Mexico: Foreign Minister is “willing to debate” legalization of drugs
Mexican Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa said on Wednesday that Mexico is willing to debate the legalization of drugs. Although she argued that this was not the best way forward. (photo: flickr SREMexico)
By Manuel Rueda
Channel: Latin American Affairs
Mexico’s Foreign Minister told a group of Latin American and European lawmakers that her country is willing to discuss the legalization of drugs, adding that “debate on this issue should be promoted at an international level.”
Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa made these comments during the latest gathering of EuroLat, a group of Members of the European Parliament and Latin American congresistas, who gather occasionally to discuss international issues.
This week, members of Eurolat are meeting in Mexico City to discuss strategies to curb international crime, with several members of the multinational group pushing for a resolution that calls on governments to consider drug legalization strategies.
In a speech in which she welcomed lawmakers to the event, Foreign Minister Espinosa said that Mexico is “open” to the legalization debate, but warned that actions that are only targeted at “part of the activities” of criminal groups, will not solve the region’s security problems.
Espinosa was essentially echoing an argument that is often put forth by the U.S. State Department: that if drugs were legalized, cartels like Los Zetas, and the Gulf Cartel, would continue to make a living from kidnappings, extorsion and human trafficking. Legalization, therefore, is not worth pursuing and the fight against cartels should continue, the argument goes.
But supporters of legalization say that drugs are the main cash cow for these criminal groups and that legalization would weaken them by cutting into their main source of income. In addition, legalization supporters say that if drugs were legalized and regulated, governments could spend more of their resources on stopping crimes like kidnappings and human trafficking.
The second set of arguments is becoming increasingly popular amongst Mexican intellectuals, a group of whom gathered last week in Mexico City for a forum on the effects of drug prohibition policies.
“There are many uncertainties, that come with the regulation of (drug) markets,” said Juan Pardanas, from Mexico’s National Institute for Competitiveness. “But what we do know is that (with legalization) the policemen and soldiers and the budget that we spend chasing drug traffickers, could be assigned to tasks that can more effectively defend our way of life.”
During the event, which took place at Mexico City’s National Anthropology Museum, legal analyst Alejandro Madrazo said that Mexico currently spends 16 times more on enforcement strategies and the war on drugs than what it spends on treating drug addicts or on reducing demand.
Madrazo, who claimed that Mexico’s anti-narcotics policies are “profoundly irresponsible,” mentioned that in 2009 (the last year for which government data on drug addiction is available) 538 people died from drug overdoses in Mexico, while in the same year a staggering, 8,906 people died from drug related violence.
This made him wonder out loud, if the cure for drug consumption (prohibition and interdiction policies) in Mexico was, in fact, worse than the disease.
Foreign Minister Espinosa, said on Wednesday that Mexico’s anti-narcotics strategy is based on three pillars, which are fighting criminal groups, improving Mexico’s legal and democratic institutions, and rebuilding the country’s social fabric by providing youth with employment opportunities and other incentives to stay away from the drug trade.
Speakers at the drug prohibition forum last week seemed to agree with these three objectives, but argued that by legalizing drugs and putting a halt to the war on cartels, the Mexican government would have more resources at its disposal to rebuild the social fabric, to fight crime and to improve the country’s institutions.
