"Drug users are killing thousands of young people in the developing nations," Felipe Calderón tells U.N.

Outgoing president calls for international conference to consider alternative strategies, seek solutions

Guadalajara -
In his farewell address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Mexican president Felipe Hinojosa Calderón pointed a finger of heavy responsibility at drug users worldwide, accusing them of "killing tens of thousands of young people in the developing nations, bringing violence and horror to the places they call home."

"With all due respect, I place these deaths on the consuming nations," he told the attentive chamber.

The president said that demand in developed and economically advantaged nations is the main factor driving Mexico's drug war, and similar conflicts which its Latin American neighbors are confronting.

It was the last of six appearances by Mr. Calderón before the world body since he took office at the end of 2006. His term expires Dec. 1, when Enrique Peña Nieto will assume the presidency.

"The time has arrived for the drug consuming nations to show the will and resolve to reduce that huge consumption. And if they can't, or if they don't want to, put an end to the tons and tons of drugs they buy every year, they nonetheless must take the firmest action to reduce the massive sums of money flowing into the hands of transnational criminal organizations," Calderón added. He again referred to the possibility of "market regulation" - a code for drug legalization, well understood by his listeners.

"Organized crime is one of the main causes of death and violence in Latin America, and the United Nations has the obligation to fight it," he said. "In Mexico we've firmly stood up to the threat (More evidence Mexican drug war strategy is working, as violence shifts southward). We regret that not everyone else has done the same."

"More than 150,000 guns have been decommissioned in Mexico. We've asked that sales of assault weapons be regulated internationally (Mexico, Vatican call for international arms sales treaty to stop flow of drug war guns), so that they don't fall into the hands of those who use them to commit horrible crimes." (U.S. guns play key role in Mexico's raging drug war, says president Felipe Calderón; "Dear friends in the United States - please, no more assault weapons to Mexico").

"It's time for the United Nations to head up an international debate" on the scourge of drug trafficking, said president Calderón. "We have to refocus on the extraordinary violence caused by the production, trafficking and distribution of drugs, which has caused so much damage and so much suffering to our peoples, converting Latin America into the most dangerous region of the world." (Mexico's Continuing Agony; The Daily Obscenities of Mexico).

As he has done before, Calderón called substance addiction the "new slavery of the 21st century," but at the same time he urged the U.N. to "explore alternatives" in the war against drug consumption.

Following Calderón on the General Assembly podium was Guatemalan president Otto Pérez Molina, who told diplomats that the legalization of some drugs should at least be put on the table for debate. It's an idea he's suggested before, and one which received a chilly reception from the United States. But today Pérez Molina - who has described Guatemala as a victim of U.S. drug demand - argued that "it's no longer possible to eradicate drugs in the world. In considering altedrnative strategies we must take new realities into account."

Oct. 11 - Drug cartels flood United States with cheap, highly potent methamphetamine

Nov. 27 - The United Nations has unanimously approved president Felipe Calderon's proposal for a special session of the General Assembly to deal with drugs and world wide narcotics trafficking, and to review strategies for confronting both. Some 95 nations co-sponsored the measure, including the United States. The session won't be held until 2016, but preparations will begin next year. The last U.N. drug summit was in 1998.

Aug. 29, 2013 - U.S. will take no action against Colorado and Washington over marijuana legalization

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