The Drug War and legalization

The Mexican Congress has begun debating whether to legalize marijuana for personal use. Remember that in February three former presidents (Zedillo, Cardoso, and Gaviria) had been part of a commission that issued a report calling for that very policy. The PRD supports it, and even the Mexican Ambassador to the U.S. has called on the United States at least to debate legalization.

It is hard to see this going anywhere at the moment, especially since Felipe Calderón has expressed opposed to the idea. But as drug-related violence increases in Mexico, I would not be surprised to see it get some political legs. The bottom line is how much patience Mexicans have with a U.S.-backed military based policy. Assuming that some sort of vote comes out of this, I will be really curious to see how it shakes out.