CITY COUNCIL DISCUSSING RESOLUTION ON JUAREZ VIOLENCE, MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION

EL PASO -- A resolution sponsored by city Reps. Steve Ortega and Beto
O'Rourke would condemn the drug-related violence in Juarez and
request that both the U.S. and Mexican governments take stronger
action to end it.

The resolution also calls for the legalization of marijuana and
having the U.S. government regulate and tax its sale. This has been a
personal issue of O'Rourke's for several years.

"Keeping marijuana illegal allows these drug cartels to profit from
its sales on the black market," he said.

The full City Council is considering the resolution at its meeting today.

Michael Moore, chairman of the El Paso County Republican Party, said
City Council resolutions such as this one were designed to make
people feel better while not accomplishing much.

"We only have so much influence on what goes on across the border," Moore said.

"We can try to let them know that we support them, but it's really up
to the government of Mexico to solve the problem and end the violence
and the drug war."

Legalizing drugs also is not the answer, Moore said. Instead,
educating American youth about the dangers of illegal drugs will do
more to curb demand, he said.

Juarez, population 1.5 million, had 2,643 murders last year. New York
City, with more than 8 million people, had 466 murders in 2009.

So far this year, Juarez has had more than 250 homicides.

Another component of the resolution is that it asks the United States
to make Mexico its top priority in foreign policy matters. O'Rourke
and Ortega would like to see a binational cabinet-level or
presidential-level meeting take place to address the drug cartel wars
in Mexico.

U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez, D-Texas, who was in El Paso on Monday, said
he welcomes any recommendations on what else the U.S. government can
do to alleviate the drug violence across the border.

"Mexico has not asked us for any further assistance. We can't go in
there and do more unless they invite us," Rodriguez said.

He said the Merida Initiative represents the first major effort to
provide Mexico with resources to fight the drug cartels.

However, U.S. funds from the $1.3 billion initiative are not flowing
quickly enough to Mexico, according to a General Accountability
Office report issued in December.

Only about $26 million, or 2 percent of the funds, have been
released, the GAO said.

The GAO also said the U.S. government has collaborated with Mexican
authorities in counternarcotics efforts since the 1970s, but it "also
noted that significant quantities of illicit drugs continued to flow
into the United States across the Southwestern border. The drugs
include heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana."

El Paso Times reporter Diana Washington Valdez contributed to this story.