MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION GAINING FAVOR IN MEXICO

Frustration With Drug War Causing Shift; U.S. Stance Still an Obstacle

MEXICO CITY Wearing a pressed shirt and tie, banging away on his
laptop, law professor Alejandro Madrazo Lajous doesn't come across as
an activist for legalizing marijuana.

But as the attorney for an organization at the forefront of the
growing legalization movement in Mexico, he is one of its most ardent
advocates.

"Seeing the destruction of my country because of the war on drugs, I
began to realize the importance of debating the idea," said Madrazo,
who is also an attorney for the Collective for an Integral Policy on Drugs.

Once a subject so taboo that college kids here didn't even whisper
about smoking pot, the idea of legalizing marijuana in Mexico has
gained increasing favor, especially among a vocal group of academics,
intellectuals and politicians.

Analysts say the shift which echoes an increasing openness to
legalization in the U.S. outside of Texas is both a function of
changing generational attitudes toward drugs and growing public
frustration with the country's drug war.

The death toll has risen to 28,000 since 2006, with more than 6,000
people killed in Ciudad Juarez, just across from El Paso, since 2008.
President Felipe Calderon said recently he would support a national
debate on the issue of legalization, reversing his previous stance on
the subject. However, he underscored that he does not favor
legalization, especially while the U.S., the world's largest consumer
of drugs, maintains prohibition.

Calderon's call for a debate on legalization is significant, but
political obstacles still stand in the way, said David Shirk,
director of the Trans-Border Institute at the University of San Diego.

"It would be very difficult for Mexico to legalize when its northern
neighbor, the most powerful country in the world, is against
legalization," he said. "Mexico could not do that unilaterally
without provoking a very strong political reaction from the United States."

Yet attitudes toward legalization have slowly been changing in the U.S., too.

Fourteen states and Washington, D.C., have legalized medical
marijuana. Texas has been quiet on marijuana reform, but the state
has relaxed rules on incarceration of first-time offenders. And in
November, California residents will have a chance to vote on
Proposition 19, which aims to legalize marijuana use for adults. A
federal official notes that the law, if passed, would contradict the
Federal Controlled Substances Act.

In Mexico, some 5 million people say they use marijuana, according to
the national health ministry. That's about 5 percent of the population.

In the U.S., according to the 2008 National Survey on Drug Use and
Health, 35.5 million people said they had used marijuana in the past
year, or about 10 percent of the population. In Texas, nearly 8
percent of Texans age 12 and older had reported using marijuana in
the past year.

Four proposals that aim for varying degrees of decriminalization or
legalization are on the docket in Mexico's House of Deputies and
another is circulating in the Senate. The proposals have garnered
support from liberal and conservative lawmakers, as well as members
of the congressional national security committee.

Former Mexican President Vicente Fox has been stumping for
legalization. Last year, another former Mexican president, Ernesto
Zedillo, pressed for decriminalization in a widely publicized report
produced with former leaders of Colombia and Brazil.

Whether legalizing drugs would serve to curb the cartel violence in
Mexico remains a subject of debate.

Marijuana the most targeted drug in decriminalization and
legalization proposals in Mexico and the U.S. is not a high-margin
product for drug trafficking organizations, analysts say, while
cocaine is. And criminal organizations do more than traffic drugs
these days: Kidnappings, bank robbery, extortion and human
trafficking are also part of their business.

Take marijuana out of the equation and "all the things they are
involved in, all these incredibly horrible crimes, of which narcotics
is only a part, would still go on," said Gail Kerlikowske, director
of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

"I don't think that marijuana legalization will be a panacea on drug
violence in Mexico," said Shirk. "But legalization could change the
nature of the fight. Drugs are so much more profitable than any other
form of illicit activity. You take away that profitability, and you
cripple the organizations' ability to corrupt the state."

For its part, the Obama administration doesn't anticipate Calderon
will shift his strategy any time soon.

"Calderon has been very firm, and very strict, on his opposition to
legalizing drugs," said Kerlikowske.

As he prepared for an evening meeting with the pro-legalization
group, Madrazo, the attorney, said he hopes for a legal marijuana
market wrested from the hands of criminals one that would be
"neither a free market nor a black market but a market that is regulated."