Latin America is the region worse affected by illegal drugs. Countries such as Mexico and Uruguay act as producers and suppliers of a number of illicit drugs to the international illegal drug market. The aggressive war on drugs waged by the Latin American states has failed to yield significant results and the drug problem continues to plague the region.
This has led to radical actions being proposed by Latin American leaders. Uruguay’s president José Mujica has proposed for a government regulated and controlled marijuana market while Mexican President Felipe Calderon has called for a new way to reduce trafficking considering the fact that developed countries have been unable to reduce their consumption of illegal drugs.
President Calderon argued that criminal networks had massive resources due to the lack of international action by the drug consuming countries to tackle the issue (UN General Debate, 2012). Both leaders contend that legalization of drugs might be the solution to the drug problems that has plagued Latin America for decades.
The argument made by the Latin American leaders fails to consider the adverse effects of drugs on the user. Drug use results in physical and mental effects and increases instances of violence. The UAE is strongly against illegal drugs and harsh penalties are imposed on individuals possessing or trafficking these drugs.
This stringent approach is based on the understanding that drugs threaten social stability by promoting violence and making people economically inactive. The UAE perspective would therefore be against the proposed legalization of drugs since such measures would result in more harm than good.
This argument is supported by Yacoubian (2007) who reveals that heavy marijuana use impairs a person’s ability to form memories and it might result in acute psychosis. Making the drug legal as the Uruguayan president proposes would result in more people suffering from the adverse mental and physical effects associated with drug use.
Another argument made is that legalizing drugs such as Marijuana would have the positive effect of reducing trafficking. The Uruguayan president argues that legalization would give government greater control on the product, which would make it safer for the user while at the same time making the role of traffickers’ obsolete (Cave, 2012).
While this might be the case, marijuana is mostly a get way drug and most users move on to harder drugs such as heroin and cocaine. Making the drug legal would therefore lead to a significant increase in the number of people who are addicted to hard drugs. The UAE perspective would be against such a move since increased drug use is an undesirable outcome for the nation.
The international community must take decisive action to tackle the issue of illegal drugs. However, this action should not be legalizing the consumption of currently illegal drugs. If the leaders in Latin America are earnest about their efforts to reduce drug trafficking, they should concentrate on eradicating corruption among local authority officials and improve the economic standards of their citizens.
These are the two factors that have guaranteed the survival of drug cartels and traffickers and dealing with them will significant reduce the drug problem in the region. In the mean time, the leaders should adopt the UAE approach that views drugs as an ill to be eradicated at all costs for the good for the society.
References
Cave, D. (2012). South America Sees Drug Path to Legalization. The New York Times. Web.
UN General Debate (2012). Address by His Excellency Felipe Calderón Hinojosa, President of the United Mexican States at the General debate of the 67th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations. Web.
Yacoubian, G. (2007). Assessing the Relationship between Marijuana Availability and Marijuana Use: A Legal and Sociological Comparison between the United States and the Netherlands. Journal of Alcohol and Drug Education, 51 (4), 17-34.