08/03/10 – During the Eighth U.S.-Mexico Bi-National Drug Demand Reduction Policy Meeting (Encuentro Binacional México-Estados Unidos en Materia de Cooperación en Materia de Reducción en la Demanda en el Consumo de Drogas) the Barack Obama administration expressed its support for Felipe Calderón’s rejection of drug use legalization because according to his administration it would provoke an increase in consumption and therefore damage the physical and mental health of the populous.
The current Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, Richard Gil Kerlikowske, stated, “ President Obama has said that he opposes the legalization of drugs and marijuana (…) This idea is being sold in México as a measure to reduce violence, and in California as a way to improve the economy, nothing is certain, that is why society, the justice process, everything is in opposition to this measure”. This came after the Mexican Secretary of Health (Secretaría de Salud), José Angel Córdova Villalobos, sustained that according to the 2009 National Survey of Addiction (Encuesta Nacional de Adicciones 2009), 88.6 % of Mexicans no not approve of the legalization of marijuana and that 91% is opposed to the legalization of drugs,
Sources:
Tavera, Yamel Viloria. “Obama rechaza legalización de drogas.” Sumedico. 03 Septiembre, 2010.
Gomez, Francisco. “Mariguana, ni como medicamento: Ssa.” El Universal. 03 Septiembre, 2010.