Pubdate: Sat, 24 Sep 2011 Source: Calgary Herald (CN AB) Copyright: 2011 Canwest Publishing Inc. Contact: http://www2.canada.com/calgaryherald/letters.html Website: http://www.calgaryherald.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/66 LEGALIZE DRUGS, FOX URGES Former Mexican president Vicente Fox said the violent drug war that has ravaged his country and affected investment needs to end, and one necessary step is legalizing drugs. Speaking to the Global Business Forum in Banff Friday, Fox says Mexico has been caught in the middle of the main drug producers located south of the country and the demand for the product to its north. "Mexico has to get out of this trap," he said. "Prohibition doesn't work. We have to separate doing business in Mexico with that." The current president, Felipe Calderon, has hinted the United States may have to consider legalizing drugs to weaken the powerful cartels. In a wide-ranging speech, Fox addressed the need for more migration to boost the strength of the Canadian, American and Mexican economies, as well as reinforcing and strengthening NAFTA and relying on the G20 rather than a smaller group to find global economic solutions. "I don't think we understand well enough the extremely powerful, positive issue that, administered correctly, is a great asset to our nations," he said of migration and immigration, adding that North American countries also must strengthen the NAFTA agreement. "We have to re-energize, reinvest in a new vision of NAFTA." He also said within a decade Mexico will no longer be an oil exporter without foreign investment. Production by the state-monopoly oil company PEMEX has declined by 25 per cent since 2004. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.