Pubdate: Wed, 04 Sep 2013
Source: Honolulu Star-Advertiser (HI)
Copyright: 2013 Star Advertiser
Contact: 
http://www.staradvertiser.com/info/Star-Advertiser_Letter_to_the_Editor.html
Website: http://www.staradvertiser.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5154
Author: Andres Oppenheimer
Page: A14

AT THE MARIJUANA CROSSROADS

In Light of Colorado and Washington, the U.S. Should Rethink Its
Opposition to Marijuana Legalization Laws in Foreign Countries

The U.S. decision not to challenge Washington and Colorado's plans to
legalize marijuana makes the U.S. drug policy look like a text-book
case of political hypocrisy: How can the U.S. government give a green
light to legalization at home while continuing to fight it abroad?

Last week, the U.S. Justice Department issued a ruling telling federal
prosecutors not to interfere with the two U.S. states that have passed
laws allowing the recreational use and sale of marijuana starting next
year. The ruling has been hailed by pro-legalization forces as
historic, since marijuana continues to be an illegal drug under
federal laws.

In its memo Thursday, the Justice Department told prosecutors not to
challenge the two states' pot legalization laws as long as they impose
a strict regulatory system that prohibits among other things the sale
of marijuana to minors, the cultivation of marijuana on public lands
and its export to other states that have not legalized it.

"This puts the United States in an awkward position in respect to its
drug war export policy," says John Walsh, a drug expert with the
Washington Office on Latin America, a group that supports pot
legalization. "The United States is going ahead with a policy that is
quite different from what it tells other countries to do."

It's a policy decision that is likely to have a big impact in Latin
America, where many countries are debating their own drug legalization
laws.

In Uruguay, the Chamber of Deputies has already approved a
government-supported marijuana legalization bill, which is likely to
be approved by the Senate before the end of the year. Now, with the
latest U.S. Justice Department decision, its Senate approval may be
even easier than previously expected.

In Mexico, where more than 50,000 people have died in the U.S.-backed
war on drugs over the past six years, legalization supporters in
Congress will have additional arguments to back their stands. Why
should we continue to spend money and lives to eradicate marijuana
crops and to seize the drug before it reaches the U.S. border, when
the United States has stopped fighting this war at home? they will
ask.

Mexico is by far the biggest exporter of marijuana to the United
States, and where the Justice Department ruling may have the biggest
impact. Other major pot exporters in the region are Jamaica, Canada
and Colombia.

Asked about the contradiction in U.S. domestic and foreign drug
policies, a State Department spokesman told me that "marijuana is and
remains illegal under federal law. We continue our important
counternarcotics cooperation with the international community to
combat drug trafficking and use, and to improve citizen security."

U.S. officials suggest that it's important to remember that Thursday's
Justice Department's decision is conditioned on Washington state and
Colorado's ability to effectively police themselves. Internationally,
it's not that clear that countries with weak institutions will be able
to do that, and prevent, among other things, sales of marijuana to
minors, legalization critics say.

As Uruguayan Sen. Pedro Bordaberry, an opponent of his country's pot
legalization bill, told me recently, "If Uruguay cannot even
effectively enforce its prohibition to re-sell tickets for soccer
matches, how can we expect it to enforce prohibition of marijuana
sales to minors?"

My opinion: The Justice Department's decision not to challenge the
Washington state and Colorado legalization laws will go down in
history as a turning point in the four-decade-old U.S. war on drugs.

There is no question that legalization of marijuana makes more sense
in Colorado or Washington state, where the police may be able to
prevent pot sales to children or drugged driving, than in Guatemala or
Honduras, where the police can often not even be trusted to be on the
right side of the law.

But, in light of the latest Justice Department decision, the current
U.S. drug policy is unsustainable. The Obama administration should
drop its blanket opposition to foreign countries' marijuana
legalization laws. It should do so in exchange for international
agreements to enforce strict regulations on the marijuana business,
including commitments to invest savings from marijuana eradication
into anti-drug education campaigns and drug prevention and
rehabilitation programs. It's a new day in the drug-fighting movement.
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