Prominent Mexicans urge government to decriminalise cannabis

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Prominent Mexicans urge government to decriminalise cannabis

26 September 2013

Since 2007, about 80,000 people have been killed in turf wars between drug cartels and their clashes with security forces, leading to calls for a change in policy in Mexico and elsewhere in the U.S.-led war on drugs.

This 26th of September's newspaper advertisement urging the decriminalization of cannabis brought together one of the most diverse coalitions pushing for change in Mexico. Those lobbying included a number of influential figures in public life.

Among the signatories were several former ministers from the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, famous actors, media tycoon Ricardo Salinas Pliego, one of Mexico's richest men, and 1995 Nobel laureate for chemistry, Mario Molina.

The ad argued that criminalisation made narcotics more lucrative for cartels, noted that a number of U.S. states had liberalized marijuana laws and that Uruguay's Congress was taking steps to legalize the cultivation and sale of the drug.

Read here the full article.

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