Felipe Calderón via The Economist:
"[E]ither the United States and its society, its government and its congress decide to drastically reduce their consumption of drugs, or if they are not going to reduce it they at least have the moral responsibility to reduce the flow of money towards Mexico, which goes into the hands of criminals. They have to explore even market mechanisms to see if that can allow the flow of money to reduce.
"If they want to take all the drugs they want, as far as I’m concerned let them take them. I don’t agree with it but it’s their decision, as consumers and as a society. What I do not accept is that they continue passing their money to the hands of killers."
For many who have studied the war on drugs, this obvious conclusion is nothing new (although it does represent a shifting perspective in a region tired of the drug war and its consequences). The bottom line is that the war on drugs has failed in two key ways: it has not substantially curtailed the demand for drugs nor has it substantially the supply thereof. As such, it could not be a more stunning failure (unless, of course, one accounts for the price tag in both dollars and blood).
The reality is: there is not going to be a drug free world (indeed, there never has been). As such, the issue is about managing the issue, not waging war on it.
