Mexico Considers Marijuana Legalization after Ballot Wins in U.S.

Mexico, which has fought a long war against drug cartels that supply U.S. users, is rethinking its marijuana policy after Colorado and Washington approved legalization. The success of legalization initiatives in Colorado and Washington in November has sparked a new conversation in a nation that is one of the world's top marijuana growers:

Should Mexico, which has suffered mightily in its war against the deadly drug cartels, follow the Western states' lead?

Such rethinking has already begun. Shortly after the approval of the U.S. ballot measures, the governor of Colima state, Mario Anguiano, floated the idea of a legalization referendum for his small coastal state. In the MexicaCongress, Fernando Belaunzaran, a lawmaker with the left-wing Democratic Revolution Party, has introduced a national legalization bill. The cartels probably derive 20% to 25% of their drug export revenue from marijuana, and Belaunzaran contends that legalization will eat into profit that allows the cartels to buy the advanced weapons that are the cause of much bloodshed.

"It's a matter of life or death," Belaunzaran said in a recent news conference. "And after 60,000 deceased" — an estimate of the death toll in the six-year war against the cartels — "no one can say that it isn't essential to Mexicans' lives."

At this point, there is limited public support for legalization here. A poll released in November showed that 79% of Mexicans remained opposed to the idea. By comparison, a Gallup poll released lastmonth showed 50% of U.S. residents against legalization and 48% in favor.

A study released by the Mexican Competitiveness Institute in October estimated that legalization measures in Colorado, Washington and Oregon (where legalization failed) would mean that American consumers would enjoy less expensive and higher-quality U.S. weed, eating into Mexican drug cartel profit, creating "the most important structural shock that narco-trafficking has experienced in a generation.".....snip~

Mexico considers marijuana legalization after ballot wins in U.S. - latimes.com

Looks Mexico is thinking of Legalizing Marijuana too. Their study says legalization in the US will affect the Cartels Big time. Course that will eat into the Mexican Economy if that happens.

With coke, heroin and other stuff, I'm not sure pot (rather cheap, bulky and smelly) is a big part of the profits. I found an interesting article about the various drugs sold by Mexican cartels and some methods, etc.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/17/m...l-makes-its-billions.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

ecofarm said:

With coke, heroin and other stuff, I'm not sure pot (rather cheap, bulky and smelly) is a big part of the profits. I found an interesting article about the various drugs sold by Mexican cartels and some methods, etc.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/17/m...l-makes-its-billions.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Click to expand...

I think the Cartels supply about 12% of the GDP for Mexico.....but that may be inaccurate since I looked last time.

ecofarm said:

With coke, heroin and other stuff, I'm not sure pot (rather cheap, bulky and smelly) is a big part of the profits. I found an interesting article about the various drugs sold by Mexican cartels and some methods, etc.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/17/m...l-makes-its-billions.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Click to expand...

Living 50 miles from Mexico I have to agree that Mexican weed sucks. Sure its only 20 bucks a quarter but its full of seeds and no one is beating down doors to get it. And most of the time it isnt even worth smoking at all. One would be better off scraping that pipe one more time...

FreedomFromAll said:

Living 50 miles from Mexico I have to agree that Mexican weed sucks. Sure its only 20 bucks a quarter but its full of seeds and no one is beating down doors to get it. And most of the time it isnt even worth smoking at all. One would be better off scraping that pipe one more time...

Click to expand...

What about Acalpulco Gold.....erm, well.....I had heard that Term mentioned, before!

MMC said:

What about Acalpulco Gold.....erm, well.....I had heard that Term mentioned, before!

Click to expand...

Yea back in the 70's

FreedomFromAll said:

Yea back in the 70's

Click to expand...

:lol: Well I didn't say when I heard it.....just that I had. :2razz:

Course I would say Illinois and Indiana are stuck in the same boat with all that Commercial Mexican weed that seems to be the only thing rounds enmasse. Know what I means.

I had a piece up when like Mexico and 4 other Central American countries sent word to Obama about the Marijuana Laws.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A group of Latin American leaders declared Monday that votes by two U.S. states to legalize marijuana have important implications for efforts to quash drug smuggling, offering the first government reaction from a region increasingly frustrated with the U.S.-backed war on drugs.

The declaration by the leaders of Mexico, Belize, Honduras and Costa Rica did not explicitly say they were considering weakening their governments' efforts against marijuana smuggling, but it strongly implied the votes last week in Colorado and Washington would make enforcement of marijuana bans more difficult.

The four called for the Organization of American States to study the impact of the Colorado and Washington votes and said the United Nations' General Assembly should hold a special session on the prohibition of drugs by 2015 at the latest.....snip~


Honduras' President Porfirio Lobo, from left, Mexico's President Felipe Calderon, Costa Rica's President Laura Chinchilla and Belize' Prime Minister Dean Barrow pose for photos prior to a press conference in Mexico City, Monday, Nov. 12, 2012. Mexico and the three Central American nations are calling for a review of international drug policies after two U.S. states voted to legalize recreational use of marijuana


LatAm leaders call for review of US legal pot vote - Yahoo! Finance

Here was that Piece I was talking about.

Good news from Mexico. El Gringo del Norte es loco!

"................Belaunzaran contends that legalization will eat into profit that allows the cartels to buy the advanced weapons that are the cause of much bloodshed."

I thought Obama and Holder sent those weapons down there for the Mexicans to kill each other.

Bolivia says re-admitted to U.N. drug convention on its own terms.....



LA PAZ (Reuters) - Bolivia on Friday said it had been re-admitted to the U.N. anti-narcotics convention after persuading member states to recognize the right of its indigenous people to chew raw coca leaf, which is used in making cocaine.

President Evo Morales had faced opposition from Washington in his campaign against the classification of coca as an illicit drug.

"The coca leaf has accompanied indigenous peoples for 6,000 years," said Dionisio Nunez, Bolivia's deputy minister of coca and integrated development. "Coca leaf was never used to hurt people. It was used as medicine."

The leaf was declared an illegal narcotic in the 1961 U.N. Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, along with cocaine, heroin, opium and morphine and a host of chemical drugs.

Bolivia withdrew from the convention a year ago and said it would not rejoin unless coca chewing was decriminalized.

Opposition came from the United States as well as France and Russia. Bolivia said it automatically rejoined the convention when a deadline ran out for opposing countries to block its petition for readmission with coca chewing permitted.

Bolivians have chewed raw coca leaves for centuries as a mild stimulant that reduces hunger and altitude sickness.....snip~

Bolivia says re-admitted to U.N. drug convention on its own terms - Yahoo! News
Reuters – 8 hrs ago<<<<< More Here.

:shock: