Guadalajara -
Former Mexican president Vicente Fox wants to take marijuana trafficking out of the hands of infamous cartel boss El Chapo Guzmán . . . and put it into his own.
Fox, who served as the National Action Party's first president from 2000 to 2006, made the announcement today at the Vicente Fox Center, his nonprofit org which is headquartered in Guanajuato state.
Last week Fox was in the United States lobbying hard for cannabis legalization. This week he's carrying the same message to fellow Mexicans.
Fox said that if marijuana is legalized, he would not hesitate to enter into every phase of the business - cultivation, marketing and distribution. He told a press conference that Mexico should "industrialize" cannabis production and become a major exporting nation.
"We should become an authorized producer, and export marijuana everywhere it's legal to do so. If and when it becomes legal, every farmer here would be able to raise it, just like any other crop."
On Thursday Fox appeared in Seattle with former Microsoft executive James Shively, who hopes to market the first national brand of retail marijuana in the United States and create a cannabis trade with Mexico. Vicente Fox and ex-Microsoft exec want to "open pot trade with Mexico."
The sale, possession and use of marijuana remains illegal under U.S. federal law for any reason. Nonetheless, 18 states and the District of Columbia have decriminalized it for medical purposes, and two states - Colorado and Washington - have legalized the recreational use of cannabis. Shively said last week that he hopes to raise $100 million from U.S. investors to pump into the ambitious plan.
Fox said today that his Center will host an international symposium on legalization July 19-21, which will be attended by delegations from U.S. states which have decriminalized, as well as by academics, doctors and those interested in commercially producing cannabis for medical and recreational use.
The former president told reporters that "experts from famous universities" would demonstrate that cannabis can even cure cancer and other serious ailments. "This product has many more beneficial uses than normally occur to us when we think of a 'joint'," he noted.
Fox said Mexico would benefit from legalization in other ways as well. "We're seeing that foreign capital is not coming in as it once did, and that tourists are not coming as they once did. We're seeing all of the consequences of the violence, the drug cartels, the money laundering. (Legalization) is the great escape from this huge deception we're in," claimed Fox, referring to Mexico's 78 month old drug war which was launched in December 2006.
"Forty years ago, U.S. president Richard Nixon launched a war on drugs. It did not succeed. The drug war of president Calderón was likewise a complete and utter failure. Today the Vicente Fox Center is offering a new solution, one I believe in and that I'm convinced will get us out of this hopeless mess in which we find ourselves mired."
"Marijuana is not pernicious. With adequate controls and adequate regulation it could become a lawful industry. We want to strip the billions and billions of dollars away from the criminals, and put them into the hands of business entrepreneurs like James Shively," the former president said.
"Instead of El Chapo Guzmán and the drug cartels, we're going to have legitimate enterprises that will pay the Mexican government the very high taxes which will be imposed on this product. Everyone will benefit, except the criminals."
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.
Things Vicente didn't think of . . .
Ex-president Vicente Fox: persona non grata in Oaxaca
Minor collateral consequences of Shively - Fox dope plan
Grass won't grow in Yucatán, says Mexican general
Mexico's incoming PRI government pays little attention to marijuana legalization efforts in U.S.
Vicente Fox faces expulsion from PAN
Vicente Fox, a PRIsta in very thin disguise
Vicente Fox: legalize all drugs immediately
Vicente Fox does his best to sink Josefina
© MGRR 2013. All rights reserved. This article may be cited or briefly quoted with proper attribution or a hyperlink, but not reproduced without permission.
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