Huffington Post - Drug policy reform appears to be sweeping Latin America. The regional movement headed by Guatemalan president Otto Pérez Molina, Colombia's Juan Manuel Santos and most recently Uruguay's José Alberto Mujica has sprouted from an inability to quell the growing violence, corruption and economic instability that results from the illegal drug trade. So why has Mexico -- a country that has lost more than 60,000 people to the drug war -- lagged behind? Although President Felipe Calderon has stated that Mexico must seek market solutions to the drug problem, he has refused to be associated with the liberalization movement for one main reason: Calderon considers himself to be the regional leader in this matter and to pursue legalization would mean to admit that his war strategy was never the most adequate approach. I used to be like Calderon, patriotic and hardheaded, but after leaving Mexico City to go to college in California I am no longer the latter. Living in the U.S. has made me realize how far Mexicans are from winning the drug war. We can continue to fight the cartels but we will never be able to beat Uncle Sam's insatiable 23 million drug consumers. The government cannot simply outsmart an army of undergrads who at least once a week smoke a joint or snort a line of coke, maybe both. In the meantime, we are killing ourselves down south. Is holding on to a taboo worth this unbearable cost? Read More NMP
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