Drug War is Flawed, UN Hears
Latin American leaders have called for a new approach to the war on drugs, saying the current drive to crush powerful cartels has failed to reduce consumption.
"The premise of our fight against drugs has proven to have serious flaws," Guatemala's President Otto Perez, who has previously advocated legalising drugs to wipe out the profit motive for traffickers, told the UN general assembly.
About 90 per cent of the cocaine and other drugs sent from South America to the United States passes through or is stored in Central America, according to US figures, helping make it one of the world's most violent regions.
Outgoing Mexican President Felipe Calderon pleaded with the United Nations to examine the "limits" of the war on drugs and weigh alternatives to the fight in which thousands die every year.
"I demand that the United Nations not only take part in, but that it lead, a discussion without prejudices ... that could bring us all to solutions that have new and efficient focuses," Calderon told the summit of global leaders in New York.
- Read the entire article at The Australian.
