Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina said Saturday he will propose legalizing drugs in all of Central America in an upcoming meeting with the region’s leaders. For a region that has been menaced by powerful drug cartels with boosted profits and enlarged paramilitaries due to harmful prohibitionist policies imposed by the United States, such a proposal is fresh air to many. Perez Molina said his proposal would include decriminalizing the transportation of drugs through the area. “I want to bring this discussion to the table,” he said. “It wouldn’t be a crime to transport, to move drugs. It would all have to be regulated.”
Tomorrow's headline will read "American President to Propose Regine Change in Guatemala."
What a great idea! Finally someone gets enough courage to state the obvious, that the war on drugs is futile and only adds to the power of the cartels. If we could only get over our stupid paranoid propagandized fears we'd be so much better off. End the war on drugs and treat it like a health issue.
According to Al Jazeera News, 90% of all illegal drug consumption is done in the US, a country with just under 5% of the world´s population. Illegal drugs are a business, all businesses run on supply and demand, and the US has an astronomical demand.
The US backed the British in forcing the Chinese to accept opium, because it was a lucrative business. Why should any country suffer violence just because Americans want to burn their brains out? All Latin America, indeed the world should legalize the drugs and end the war on drugs in their countries. Perhaps, just perhaps the Americans will wake up and see that they too would benefit from legalization and indeed earn billions in sales and/or taxes. But that´s America´s problem, not the rest of the world´s. Legalize the stuff now – end the unnecessary violence.