cannabisnews.com: Former Mexican President Fox Urges Legalization
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Former Mexican President Fox Urges Legalization
Posted by CN Staff on July 09, 2013 at 05:39:38 PT
By Ronnie Cohen
Source: Reuters
San Francisco -- Former Mexican President Vicente Fox took his crusade to legalize marijuana to San Francisco on Monday, joining pot advocates to urge the United States and his own country to decriminalize the sale and recreational use of cannabis.Fox met for three hours with the advocates, including Steve DeAngelo, the Oakland-based executive director of California's largest marijuana dispensary, and former Microsoft executive Jamen Shively, who hopes to create a Seattle-based pot brand now that Washington state has legalized recreational use.
Legalization, Fox told reporters after the meeting, is the only way to end the violence of Mexican drug cartels, which he blamed on America's war on drugs."The cost of the war is becoming unbearable - too high for Mexico, for Latin America and for the rest of the world," Fox said in English.Every day, he said, 40 young people are killed in drug-related violence.Fox's position on legalizing drugs has evolved over time since the days when he cooperated with U.S. efforts to tamp down production in Mexico during his 2000-2006 presidential term. He has been increasingly vocal in his opposition to current policies, backing two prior efforts to legalize marijuana in Mexico.Mexico's current president, Enrique Peņa Nieto, has opposed legalization. But he recently said that he would consider world opinion on the matter, particularly in light of recent voter-approved initiatives to legalize marijuana in Washington state and Colorado for recreational use.In San Francisco on Monday, Fox said he had signed on to attend and help develop an international summit later this month in Mexico to strategize a path to end marijuana prohibition.Participants scheduled to attend the three-day meeting starting July 18 in San Cristobal include an American surgeon, the dean of Harvard's School of Public Health and a Mexican congressman who plans to introduce a bill to legalize marijuana in Mexico this summer, Fox said.The bill, which he expects to be introduced by Mexican lawmaker Fernando Belaunzaran, would legalize adult recreational use of marijuana, Fox said.Support for legalizing marijuana in the United States has been growing. Nineteen states and the District of Columbia have passed medical marijuana laws, according to the pro-legalization National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. But the drug remains illegal under federal law.Lifting the prohibition on cannabis in Mexico, however, appears to face more of an uphill battle. Mexican lawmakers have rejected previous legalization efforts and polls have shown little popular support for the idea.But Fox promised to wage what he said was a necessary battle."We cannot afford more blood and the loss of more young people," Fox said. "We must get out of the trap we are in."Editing by Sharon Bernstein and Eric WalshSource: Reuters (Wire)Author: Ronnie CohenPublished: July 8, 2013Copyright: 2013 Thomson ReutersCannabisNews  -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml 
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Comment #4 posted by afterburner on July 09, 2013 at 19:50:38 PT
Hear, Hear
"We cannot afford more blood and the loss of more young people," Fox said. "We must get out of the trap we are in."If that statement doesn't warm some hardened hearts, what will it take? We The People must stop the War On Love. Compassion must rear its lovely head once more, unashamed and dripping with kindness.
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Comment #3 posted by RonM on July 09, 2013 at 11:53:14 PT:
Decriminalize marijuana! 
To all who cherish freedom,Our nation watches and the resolve builds to end Marijuana Prohibition in the United States of America.We have to keep the pressure on our government to decriminalize marijuana.Please sign the new whitehouse petition,http://wh.gov/lOmFKDecriminalize marijuana, and pardon all marijuana convictions. Over 100,000,000 U.S. Citizens have used marijuana.With over 500,000 marijuana arrests costing over $13 billion annually, and with more than half of U.S. Citizens favoring legalization the time is here to end marijuana prohibition.Marijuana prohibition is very costly to society, wasting billions of dollars and billions of hours in law enforcement, justice system and penal system time, it also destroys families and personal lives and futures.The effects of marijuana both physically and socially are less harmful than alcohol or tobacco, and adults should be entitled to make the decision whether or not to consume marijuana.It's time to finally put an end to the criminalization of marijuana, This would not only allow our government to save billions of dollars, but could be a source of income and bring in billions of dollars in revenue.Please help to spread the word on any social media you can, we need this petition to go VIRAL!Si Se Puede!Thank you,RonM
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Comment #2 posted by ekim on July 09, 2013 at 08:53:47 PT
Noon on NPR Fresh Air journalist Alfredo Corchado
Talking about his new memoir Midnight in Mexico.And about his years covering the Drug Cartels.http://www.npr.org/programs/fresh-air/
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Comment #1 posted by HempWorld on July 09, 2013 at 07:20:17 PT
Go Fox!
Mexico tiene que legalizar marijuana or maria! Y los mas pronto possible!Gracias a Dios!
Legalizacion!
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