cannabisnews.com: If CA Voters Legalize Pot, World Will Feel Effect function share_this(num) { tit=encodeURIComponent('If CA Voters Legalize Pot, World Will Feel Effect'); url=encodeURIComponent('http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/26/thread26079.shtml'); site = new Array(5); site[0]='http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u='+url+'&title='+tit; site[1]='http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit.php?url='+url+'&title='+tit; site[2]='http://digg.com/submit?topic=political_opinion&media=video&url='+url+'&title='+tit; site[3]='http://reddit.com/submit?url='+url+'&title='+tit; site[4]='http://del.icio.us/post?v=4&noui&jump=close&url='+url+'&title='+tit; window.open(site[num],'sharer','toolbar=0,status=0,width=620,height=500'); return false; } If CA Voters Legalize Pot, World Will Feel Effect Posted by CN Staff on October 27, 2010 at 20:53:19 PT By Andres Oppenheimer Source: Sacramento Bee Mexico City -- If California voters approve a proposition calling for the legalization of marijuana in the Nov. 2 midterm elections, get ready for a domino effect in Mexico and the rest of Latin America. It is not likely to be immediate, but it will be hard to stop.Granted, the Obama administration would most likely challenge Proposition 19 in the courts if it were approved. Most polls show that the California proposal has a better than even chance of passing. But during a visit to Mexico, I found few people in political, academic and business circles who don't believe that passage of Proposition 19 would have a big impact on this country. It will be very hard for the Mexican government to keep up its U.S.-backed anti-drug policies, especially when it comes to cracking down on the marijuana trade, they said. How can the United States ask Mexico to keep up the fight against marijuana smugglers if the drug becomes legal in California? Ricardo Najera, spokesman for Mexico's attorney general's office, told me that the Mexican government will continue its military offensive against the drug cartels regardless of what happens in California, but added that approval of Proposition 19 would have a "demoralizing impact" on Mexico."If one country authorizes something that is prohibited in another country, it creates a very big problem for the country that is combating that particular crime," Najera said. "It would discourage authorities that are working on that front."The last two Mexican presidents, Ernesto Zedillo and Vicente Fox, have already come out publicly in favor of decriminalizing — or, in Fox's case, legalizing — marijuana production and consumption.President Felipe Calderón's government opposes legalization, but Calderón has said he is open to holding a national debate about it.Several of the likely candidates for Mexico's 2012 presidential elections have already said they will support legalization of marijuana if California votes for it. Snipped Complete Article: http://drugsense.org/url/Ejtv72jXSource: Sacramento Bee (CA)Author: Andres OppenheimerPublished: October 27, 2010Copyright: 2010 The Sacramento BeeContact: opinion sacbee.comWebsite: http://www.sacbee.com/CannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Post Comment