Mexico and the "War on Drugs"

Institute for Public Accuracy
915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
(202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * ipa@accuracy.org
___________________________________________________

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Mexico and the "War on Drugs"

JOHN GIBLER,
john.gibler@gmail.com, http://www.citylights.com/book/?GCOI=87286100093700

This week, Gibler is going back and forth between El Paso and
Juarez, Mexico. He is author of the new book "Mexico Unconquered:
Chronicles of Power and Revolt." Gibler said today: "As the violence
related to drug trafficking plagues Mexico, the United States government
still refuses to acknowledge the failure of the so-called 'war on drugs'
and to initiate a real change in U.S. drug policy.

"The U.S. government refuses to acknowledge the violence and
corruption within its own borders and instead hopes to give hundreds of
millions of dollars to weapons contractors to further militarize the
border and aid the Mexican military and police forces that have been
found time and time again to support one or the other cartels battling
over territory and trafficking routes in Mexico.

"The untouchable issues in the United States continue to be
legalization and regulation. In 2006, the Mexican congress tried to
regulate small possession of many now-illegal plants and substances in
order to stop the explosion of killings generated by black market trade,
but then-President Vicente Fox quashed the bill after the Bush
administration condemned the progressive initiative. Even the Economist
magazine and a coalition of former presidents from Brazil, Colombia and
Mexico have made various proposals for legalization.

"The issue is not of violence 'spilling over' from Mexico to the
United States, but of the deeply transnational violence that will always
accompany a multi-billion dollar illegal industry with entrenched
networks both within and beyond national governments.

"If the current administration advertises change one can believe in,
they would change the entire paradigm of the drug war and address both
its economic reality and its social roots through regulation,
decriminalization, and treatment."

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020, (202) 421-6858; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167