subject: Colombian President Speaks Out Against Legalized Marijuana [print this page] Colombian President Speaks Out Against Legalized Marijuana
Colombia President Juan Manuel Santos followed the lead of Mexican President Felipe Calderone on Tuesday with a public call for unity in the war on drugs. Santos along with Calderone believes that the steps toward legalization in California are deteriorating the international battle against drug trafficking. Santos extrapolated on the topic at a press conference in Colombia's Cartagena, stressing that logical policy needs to be agreed upon not only in the U.S., but on a global level.
Santos went on to condemn the legalization movement in California, called Proposition 19, for sending a mixed messages, demanding international coherence that would elucidate the consequences of growing, selling and possessing drugs. He claims current policy makes it impossible for him to explain to a Colombian farmer harvesting marijuana that the same thing he is being thrown in jail for would be legal in the state of California.
The disparity between nations, according to Santos promotes "contradictory signals that weaken a fight that ought to be a fight coordinated by all countries and against these phenomena that has caused us so much havoc and damage."
Santos has stated this opinion before to the United Nations and has sought to form an alliance with Mexico and Peru on the topic of California's legalization.
Proposition 19 will be voted on by Californians on Nov. 2.
WorldMarketMedia.com (The Global Online Investment Community) is a high traffic stock market, news data website providing cutting edge new media products and services to publicly traded companies worldwide. Our Editor's Desk authors insightful real-time coverage on the economy, the capital markets and their listed companies.