LATIN LEADERS TALK UP DRUG LEGALIZATION

Some Experts Say It's Only Way To Win War

A discussion on the legalization of drugs as the only realistic way to
break the international drug cartels is inching closer to the agenda of the
Quebec Summit of the Americas next month.

Mexican President Vicente Fox has made waves by agreeing with statements by
his top police officials that legalization is the only way to win the war
on drugs.

His comments follow a pledge earlier this month by Uruguayan President
Jorge Batlle Ibanez to raise legalization at the April 20-22 summit.

The summit is bringing together 34 hemispheric heads of state and government.

Mr. Fox crossed the line Latin leaders traditionally do not tread when he
speculated in weekend interviews with two Mexican newspapers that the only
way to win the war against drugs was by legalizing them and, thereby,
eliminating the profit motive and the violence that goes with illegal
trafficking.

``That's right, that's true, that's true,'' Mr. Fox told the newspaper
Unomasuno when asked if he agreed with the assessment of a senior police
official who supports the legalization route.

However, Mr. Fox said Mexico would not and could not act unilaterally and
that he did not expect any such international action to be coming 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,'' he was quoted by El Sol de Mexico. ``Humanity some day will see
that it is best in that sense.''

Latin leaders have made similar observations in the past, but they usually
wait until after they are out of office for fear of economic reprisal by
the United States, which has taken a zero-tolerance position against drug
use, trafficking and production.

But in a live Internet discussion with the Washington Post last week,
Uruguay's Mr. Batlle said he will attempt to open debate on legalization of
drugs, either formally or informally.

``Imagine the money you spend to impede drug traffic and imagine that huge
amount of resources on education for the people who really need help,'' he
said, adding that Uruguay has not experienced any backlash from the U.S.
for his drug position.

Mr. Batlle said the best way to address the ongoing civil war in Colombia
would be to legalize drugs and admit Colombia into NAFTA.

Officials at the Mexican Embassy in Ottawa said Mr. Fox is not advocating
legalization of drugs, nor is Mexico going to attempt to bring the topic to
the Quebec summit agenda.

``The president is talking about the possible decriminalization for
possession of some drugs for personal use as some other countries have
done, but that would require international agreement,'' Alfonso Nieto said
yesterday.

``But for the time being, we have declared war against drug trafficking --
a total battle against drugs.''

Mr. Nieto also said while there has been some public debate in Mexico about
drug decriminalization, it has not yet been discussed by the National
Congress and it is not part of the country's summit agenda.

``There are other issues, like democracy-building, like security, like free
trade that have a much higher level on the agenda.''

Canadian officials say they have had no indication that Mexico has changed
its approach to fighting drug producers and traffickers.

``In all of our meetings with the Fox administration so far, they have
never brought up the subject of legalizing narcotics,'' said Foreign
Affairs spokesman Francois Lasalle.

Mexico has sent a series of conflicting messages on its approach to the war
on drugs since Mr. Fox was elected last fall.

He stunned the United States with the appointment of two pro-legalization
officials to senior positions in his cabinet.

Alejandro Gertz, the former police chief of Mexico City and now public
security minister, has talked in the past about the need to take economic
incentives out of drugs and that Mexico should be considering the
Netherlands' approach to drug use and sales.

Mexico's new foreign minister, Jorge Casteneda, a left-leaning academic and
former guest columnist for Newsweek magazine, has written in that magazine
that legalization might be the only way to win the war on drugs, and made
reference to U.S. President George W. Bush's former cocaine use.

However, any plans the Mexicans might have had to embark on a course
sharply divergent from the Americans' policy of prohibition appeared to be
derailed after Mr. Fox and Mr. Bush met in January.

The official communique released after the presidents' summit contained
language that was a return to the American position of zero tolerance.

``Drug trafficking, drug abuse and organized crime are major threats to the
well-being of our societies. To combat this threat, we must strengthen our
respective law enforcement strategies and institutions and develop closer,
more trusting avenues of bilateral and multilateral co-operation.

``We want to reduce the demand for drugs and eliminate drug-trafficking
organizations. To this end, we will undertake immediate steps to review
policies and co-ordination efforts in accordance with each country's
national jurisdiction.''

By earlier this month, however, Mexico was again talking about legalization.

``The debate is there, in the Mexican society,'' deputy foreign minister
Enrique Berruga told reporters prior to the Inter-Parliamentary Forum of
the Americas in Ottawa.

``In the face of such a dramatic problem, such a situation and dangerous
one, all options have to be considered. We don't know, because there is no
precedent on this, on how effective this would be.''

Mr. Berruga says the assumption made by supporters of legalization is that
such a step would remove the profit motive and associated violence with
illicit trafficking, ``but we don't know.''

The Inter-Parliamentary Forum, which was attended by 100 lawmakers from 27
countries, did not discuss legalization, as had been proposed at a
preliminary meeting last September by a Colombian congressman.

Colombia's government opposes legalization and recently accepted more than
$1.3 billion in American military aid to wage the ``war on drugs.''

Forum delegates agreed that more had to be done to strip drug barons of
their profits, but did not discuss legalization as a way of doing that.

``The fight against drug trafficking and money laundering is a universal
struggle,'' said Ecuador's Antonio Posso Delgado.

However, Mr. Delgado was critical of the U.S. aid package to Colombia, much
of which is to be used to fund a program of spraying toxic chemicals on
drug-producers' fields.

He said such an approach could destabilize neighbouring countries.

``It could turn South American into a sort of Vietnam. This is not good for
anyone,'' he said.