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.