Former president Vicente Fox and ex-Microsoft exec want to "open pot trade with Mexico"

Care for a Diego Pellicer?

Guadalajara -
A former Microsoft exec wants to create America's "first national brand of retail marijuana" and create a "cannabis trade with Mexico," reports the Seattle Times.

James Shively plans to hold a press conference today with Vicente Fox, who was Mexico's president from 2000-2006.

"We’re going to mint more millionaires than Microsoft with this business," the Times quoted Shively, who said he and Fox will offer a proposal for regulating marijuana commerce between the two countries.

Voters in Colorado and Washington approved the possession and recreational use of cannabis last November, and local authorities no longer arrest or prosecute individuals for such. But marijuana remains flatly prohibited by U.S. federal law no matter the quantity, rendering the state laws a nullity. The Obama administration has previously threatened to take action against jurisdictions which purport to legalize marijuana, a measure which was also considered but rejected by California voters in 2010. So far it has done nothing with Colorado or Washington (On eve of Obama visit to Mexico, U.S. drug czar releases "new strategy," focused on treatment and prevention).

Although 18 U.S. states and the District of Columbia now have medical marijuana laws, even those violate federal statutes and regulations, which ordinarily preempt local ones. Moreover, a state which flatly prohibits marijuana possession or use for any purpose is not required to recognize legalization rules in other states. U.S. splits over marijuana, but Kansas says it's still illegal in Sunflower State.

Shively admitted this week that getting around federal prohibitions on cannabis presented a major obstacle, saying he didn't know "exactly how that would be done." Meanwhile he's buying medical marijuana dispensaries in Colorado and Washington, hoping to attain market domination of medical and recreational cannabis ahead of what he believes will be widespread investor interest. A draftsman of the Washington state legislation told the Times that large scale marijuana marketing plans plainly would violate federal law, but Shively said he will not be deterred.

A pot smoker for 18 months, the former Microsoft strategic planning manager told the paper, "I've fallen in love with the plant."

Shively plans to call his new marijuana brand "Diego Pellicer," after his great-grandfather, who was governor of Cebu Province in the Philippines in the late 19th century. Pellicer was a hemp exporter.

Former National Action Party president Vicente Fox has long been a vigorous advocate of legalizing all drugs, not just marijuana. In a March 2012 interview, he told Mexico's Milenio network that 60 million people in the United States are guilty of drug crimes, "including Obama and Clinton," both of whom admitted using marijuana when they were young.

In Mexico City on May 3, president Obama dismissed any suggestion that his administration might consider decriminalizing or regulating cannabis. Obama tells Mexico: "drug legalization not the answer". In a May 24 interview with a Colombian radio station, president Enrique Peña Nieto likewise claimed he has "always been opposed to legalization." But he said he supports discussion and debate of the issue, as some Latin American leaders have urged. Peña Nieto predecessor and Fox successor Felipe Calderón Hinojosa, who launched Mexico's 77 month old drug war in December 2006, staunchly opposed legalization, often calling drugs the world's "new slavery."

A public opinion survey reported in November 2012 revealed that 79% of Mexicans are opposed to drug legalization. Security experts here contend that doing so would likely raise the level of violence among Mexico's 60-80 major cartels, which are locked in a brutal war to dominate narcotics markets and northbound trafficking routes. Decriminalization would free them from law enforcement operations, allowing them to focus all their attention on defeating rivals, consultants say. Most victims of Mexico's drug war have been cartel members and organized crime operatives, according to both the present (PRI) and past (PAN) administrations.

July 18 - Ex-president Vicente Fox: persona non grata in Oaxaca
June 5 - Vicente Fox: "I'd raise marijuana, were it legal"
June 6 - At the 43rd annual convention of the Organization of American States in Antigua, Guatemala, Mexico today cast its vote against the legalization of any drug.

May 26 - Joe Biden tells Latin press, "No vamos por la senda de legalizar drogas"
May 31 - Minor collateral consequences of Shively - Fox dope plan
May 31 - Shively plans $100 million investment in pot trade - a flatly illegal enterprise

Mar. 31 - Mexican drug traffickers find ready assistance in mules carrying American passports
Nov. 8 - Mexico's incoming PRI government pays little attention to U.S. marijuana legalization efforts

Apr. 8, 2013 - Nicaragua: drug traffickers "could overrun us"
Apr. 5, 2013 - For the first time, majority of Americans back legal pot
Apr. 16, 2012 - Vicente Fox: legalize all drugs immediately
Oct. 18, 2011 - Vicente Fox urges legalization of all drugs in Mexico - and worldwide

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