US agrees to discuss drug legalization at regional summit

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Colombia Reports

US agrees to discuss drug legalization at regional summit
Friday, 09 March 2012 07:39
Christan Leonard

The United States will discuss drug legalization in a multilateral setting for the first time at the upcoming Summit of the Americas in Colombia, reported newspaper El Tiempo Friday.

Despite their decision to join talks, there is no indication the U.S. position firmly against legalization has changed. "We are ready to discuss the issue to express our opinion on why it is not the way to address the problem," said Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs Mike Hammer.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and his Guatemalan counterpart Otto Perez Mollina have been campaigning to get this issue on the international agenda.

Numerous other leaders throughout Latin America believe the U.S. "war on drugs" has failed and have expressed their desire to legalize or decriminalize drugs.


Read more: http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/22714-us-agrees-to-discuss-drug-legalization-at-summit-of-the-americas.html

[Jackpine Radical]

1. I had hoped for a lot better than this rigid adherence

to the failed policies of the last 40 years.

[Judi Lynn]

2. The drug war gives them entry into lives of so many people, here and throughout the Americas.

"Fighting the drug war" allows the US to set up bases everywhere, and have power which shouldn't be possible.

[obxhead]

5. Not to mention the billions upon billions of dollars at stake. eom

[LetTimmySmoke]

11. The War on Drugs is a giant money scam. They don't want to give it up.

[libinnyandia]

3. I don't agree with Ron Paul and Pat Robertson on many things, but ending the war on drugs is

one of them

[DaveJ]

4. You got to be rich to do drugs

The rest of us are supposed to be automatons, but the rich can afford to do drugs. They just have someone else buy them. The poor get caught buying drugs and go to jail. People need an escape. Even if drugs are slightly unhealthy, so is sitting at a desk all day at an office job, or working in a factory -- why don't they make those things illegal too?

[MindMover]

6. The war on drugs.....is really the war on people

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/41483660@N04/6971558501/" title="medmj_500 by pbmus, on Flickr"><img src="" width="500" height="359" alt="medmj_500"></a>

[freshwest]

9. Reminds me of the LOLZ cats meme, ALL UR MONEY BELONGS 2 ME

It's all about OWNERSHIP, an elaborate con about who owns this planet and everything on it and whoever they can sucker into that game.

Walk away, folks, if you can.

[alp227]

7. will this be all talk no action? I'm cautiously optimistic.

[Uncle Joe]

8. Maybe lightning will strike, the U.S. will actually get over its's myopic arrogance, listen,

learn from its' neighbors and change our counterproductive, dysfunctional, draconian and corruptive drug polices.

That would be cool.

I will keep my fingers crossed.

Thanks for the thread, Judi Lynn.

[drokhole]

10. They don't want a "discussion," they want to state an assertion

[Comrade Grumpy]

12. The prohibitionist consensus is crumbling.

Latin America is tired of fighting our drug war for us.

And we should be tired of it, too. It's just an excuse for militarization of our police and ever more encroaching surveillance technologies. Piss in a cup to get a job, indeed.