Legalize marijuana and opium poppy is a great alternative to combat drug trafficking

Although the cocaine drug trade has been the one that has killed the most in Mexico, with 250,000 homicides, according to a recount made by the Russian news agency RT, legalizing marijuana and poppy for medicinal purposes, could at least contribute to the fact that the figure does not grow and show that drug trafficking in general can be combated with a different strategy.

Leer en español: ¿Por qué se debe legalizar la marihuana y la amapola en México?

The first argument to answer the question with which I titled this article is to talk about how the policy of prohibiting the drug has not worked, for this, I quote below the answer given by Hannah Hetzer, director of International Policy Drug Policy Alliance in the United States to Semana magazine, to the question "what do you think about the prohibition policies of marijuana?"

"The policies of the prohibition have failed. We have been with them for almost a century and we have not seen a decline in consumption, production, or cultivation. In addition, they have had a series of disastrous consequences such as the violence produced by illicit markets, homicides and corruption. The creation of policies such as aerial spraying and the use of glyphosate have damaged the environment, communities and their traditions in several countries. There is a massive incarceration in the world. The US has 5 percent of its population in prison and the world has 25 percent of its population behind bars".

At present we must not fall IGNORE INTO that false promise that drug trafficking will end, killing its main leaders. In Colombia, the government believed that killing Pablo Escobar was going to end drug trafficking. Today, we have more than 200,000 hectares of coca crops, confirmed by the Government of Donald Trump. Although the "Chapo Guzmán" -important drug lord in Mexico- is in prison, Mexico continues to produce cocaine, among other drugs, more and more.

So, legalize the drug as marijuana for medicinal purposes as it is being contemplated by the new president of Mexicans Andrés Manuel López Obrador, according to Olga Sánchez, future secretary of the Interior, in a conference for the educational institution El Colegio de México, is really the best news in terms of lowering the levels of violence and homicides within the fight against drugs.

It is to applaud the position of General Salvador Cienfuegos, member of the Secretariat of National Defense of Mexico (Sedena), when he says, quoted by El País of Spain , that legalizing poppy would be an outlet to combat the problem of violence in Mexico .

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To defend his position, he says that if the poppy is legalized, it will be necessary to "pay attention to the safety of the peasants", because they will sell their poppies to the government and not to the delinquents "to make morphine and take care of the pain of the patients". His statement acquires value if we consider his military position, since he is understanding that there is another way to confront illicit drugs.

Colorado, USA, a case of success in the legalization of marijuana

According to the Magnet portal, the latest survey on the use and use of substances by young people revealed that they smoke less today than marijuana is legal than when it was illegal in 2013. "At that time, about 12% of State adolescents bought and consumed grass. Today the percentage has been reduced to 9%, a sharp and relatively exceptional decline within the United States", says Magnet with information collected from Washington Post.

The sale of marijuana in Colorado to minors almost does not occur if we take IGNORE INTO account that the establishments that provide it will not risk losing their license for selling to a minor. This fact shows another success in the difficulty imposed by the legalization of marijuana to those who sell it. In addition, the young man will not look for the drug trafficker because he will believe that he will get IGNORE INTO trouble, thus being a heavy blow for the marijuana traffickers.

With all the arguments in this column, it could be said that Mexico, if it did, would take an important step in the fight against drug trafficking if it chooses to legalize marijuana and opium poppy for medicinal purposes.

Latin American Post I Edwin Guerrero Nova
Translated from “¿Por qué se debe legalizar la marihuana y la amapola en México?”

* The opinion of the editor does not represent this newspaper

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