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Report: Fox Talks Drug Legalization

By John Rice, Associated Press Writer, Monday, March 19, 2001; 6:00 p.m. EST

MEXICO CITY -- Struggling with the corruption and violence caused by drug
trafficking, President Vicente Fox says the solution might be to eventually
legalize drug use.

In an interview published by two newspapers Sunday, Fox indicated agreement
with a police official who suggested last week that the only way to win the
war on drugs was to legalize drugs - eliminating the profits and violence
caused by illegal trafficking.

"That's right, that's true, that's true," the newspaper Unomasuno quoted
Fox as saying.

But the president quickly qualified that statement, saying Mexico could not
move alone and indicating he did not expect such a step soon.

"When the day comes that it is time to adopt the alternative of lifting
punishment for consumption of drugs, it would have to come all over the
world because we would gain nothing if Mexico did it but the production and
traffic of drugs ... continued here," he said.

"So humanity some day will see that it is best in that sense," he said in
remarks also reported by El Sol de Mexico.

On Monday, Fox spokeswoman Martha Sahagun was asked to elaborate.

"The president was very clear in what he said, that drugs and drug
smuggling is a serious affair not only for Mexico, it is an affair that
affects many countries in the world," she said. "...We have to follow this
problem closely, in a joint and global manner, taking solutions at the
appropriate times."

Fox has vowed to cooperate closely with the United States against
traffickers who have used Mexico both as a transit route and production
site for narcotics.

On Jan. 24, the new president announced a "great crusade" against drugs,
saying, "I pledge a war without mercy."

Fox promised to overhaul the nation's corrupt prison system and to follow a
Mexican Supreme Court ruling last week that removed barriers to extradition
of Mexicans for trial in the United States.

His government has announced record seizures of drugs since Fox took office
Dec. 1.

Yet some Mexican experts - including Fox's Foreign Secretary Jorge
Castaneda - have long suggested that the drug war is being lost and that
some drugs should be decriminalized.

"One thing is (Fox's) personal attitude and another is pragmatism faced
with the United States," said Luis Astorga, a sociologist at the National
Autonomous University who studies the drug trade.

He said "Fox has gone further than previous governments" in accepting U.S.
demands to fight drugs.

A U.S. expert, Frank Cilluffo of the Center for Strategic and International
Studies in Washington, said that suggesting legalizing drugs "sends the
wrong message to our children."

"While some of the gang violence may be mitigated, the bad consequences of
drug use would not," said Cilluffo, who heads a task force on the narcotics
industry for the center.

             © Copyright 2001 The Associated Press