Mexico is paying a high price for fighting a war on drugs that are consumed in the United States. More than 40,000 people have died in drug-related violence since the end of 2006 when Mexico began an aggressive campaign against narco-trafficking. The drug war has led to a rise in corruption and gruesome criminality that is weakening democratic institutions, the press, law enforcement, and other elements of a free society. Former Mexican president Vicente Fox will explain that prohibition is not working and that the legalization of the sale, use, and production of drugs in Mexico and beyond offers a superior way of dealing with the problem of drug abuse.
I hope Mr. Fox is not considering completely legalizing drugs because that would mean we're abandoning the central reason why we're banning it in the first place--the negative externalities associated with drug use abuse. Studies are everywhere pointing to how drug abuse can lead to problems in society such as increases in murders, rapes, and vehicular accidents, among others.
On the other hand, if Mr. Fox is really suggesting legalizing but with some sort of regulation still in place, I would not think the same problems would go away. Think, for example, such regulation would place a limit to how much drugs one should consume. That would be very difficult to monitor. In addition, there would be some sort of opportunism that will definitely take place. Some individuals would take advantage of such regulations. Those individuals set up another black market.
And the song would continue to keep playing...