New tactics ‘needed’ in international drug fight

MEXICO CITY - Reuters

Illegal drugs use globally is still rising despite a decades-long battle against organized crime, and producer and consumer nations need to find with new strategies, Mexico and four Central American countries said Nov. 12.

“Revising the international community’s focus on drugs ... cannot be delayed,” the leaders of Mexico, Costa Rica, Honduras, Belize and Guatemala said in a joint statement . “Consumption of these substances continues to rise on a global level.” They called for strategies “to control the drugs market and prevent the trafficking of illegal substances continuing to cause high levels of crime and violence in the region.”

Latin Americans are increasingly skeptical about Washington’s hard-line prohibitionist approach to drugs, particularly because the United States is a leading market for the narcotics. That was highlighted last week, when Colorado and Washington became the first U.S. states to legalize the possession and sale of marijuana for recreational use, in defiance of federal law.

At the U.N. General Assembly in September, the leaders of Mexico, Colombia and Guatemala called on world governments to explore new alternatives to tackle the problem.