Vicente Fox to visit U.S. for its support for the legalization of marijuana The former president told CNN that supports the project of a exejecutivo of Microsoft to create a production of the drug By Catherine E. Shoichet Thursday, May 30, 2013 at 22:20

Vicente Fox to visit U.S. for its support for the legalization of marijuana

The former president told CNN that supports the project of a exejecutivo of Microsoft to create a production of the drug

By Catherine E. Shoichet
Thursday, May 30, 2013 at 22:20

Former President Vicente Fox and U.S. entrepreneur Jamen Shively in an interview with CNN on Thursday (CNN).

The most important

• The Mexican president is meeting this week with Seattle entrepreneurs in the U.S.
• Fox said in an interview with CNN that supports the production of the drug is in the hands of entrepreneurs and not criminals
• Fox said he's not involved in a business plan to produce marijuana but supports the project

---

Related Topics

• OPINION: Legalizing drugs in Mexico, discussed
• A U.S. woman, on trial in Mexico for drug trafficking
• Doping Agency marijuana relaxes controls
• Seattle? Paradise for tourism of marijuana?

(CNN) - Former President Vicente Fox, who once led a military operation against drug cartels now has a new goal: to create a legal system that produces, distributes and put tax on marijuana.

Vicente Fox is meeting this week with a group of businessmen in Seattle to discuss this possibility, six months after voters in Washington state approved a measure that allows recreational use of marijuana.

As president, Fox launched Operation Safe Mexico, with which soldiers and federal police sent eight cities around the country in 2005, while the drug cartels expanding their control in the country.

But since he left office in 2006, the president's speech has taken a turn, supporting the legalization of drugs. Using the military to deal with the cartels not work, said, but legalization might be the way.

"This could end violence," Fox said Thursday at Wolf Blitzer, CNN."Would control the criminals and would reduce their income while a business would become transparent in the hands of entrepreneurs," he said.

Fox spoke to reporters on Thursday, which praised the efforts of the state of Washington to legalize marijuana and "change the paradigm".

"In Mexico we welcome this initiative," he said, "because the cost of war is becoming unbearable, very high for Mexico, Latin America and the rest of the world."

"The problem is that Mexico is among the mammoth consumer market in the United States and the nations drug producers south as Colombia, Venezuela and others. So my position has been strongly in favor of legalization "he added.

Legalization measures, according to him, ultimately seek to overthrow the foundations of organized crime.

While Fox spoke, nodding Jamen Shively. The former Microsoft executive is leading a new business looking to create the first national brand sales of cannabis in the United States.

Fox told CNN he is not involved in Shively plan but sat next to him because it supports their initiative to stop drug production in the hands of businessmen and criminals.

"By making cannabis illegal we have become a tool for violence, exploited by criminals and organized crime spanning many countries," said Shively.

Opponents criticize the legalization

But the legalization of drugs still has hardened critics in the United States, officials of the Obama administration have said on several occasions his opposition to these proposals when they have arisen in other countries.

Last year, John Walters, who directed the National Control Policy Drug White House between 2001 and 2009, told CNN that legalization would cause an increase in crime.

Meanwhile, the current president of Mexico, Enrique Peña Nieto, has also expressed doubts about legalization measures. In Mexico, the use of marijuana is not a crime, but they are the production and distribution of this drug.

Peña Nieto told CNN last year that despite its reservations , the way of the fight against drugs could be modified in view of the changing policies of the United States, following recent referendums in Colorado and Washington.

"I personally am not in favor of legalizing drugs, because it is not just about marijuana. I think it is a door for people to start using more harmful drugs, "said Peña Nieto.

"But it is clear that what happened in two states (the United States) in the near future could lead us to rethink the strategy."

A complicated political landscape

In November, voters in Colorado and Washington in the United States approved to allow recreational use of marijuana , 20 other states allow the use of marijuana for medical reasons.

The new laws put Washington and Colorado in trouble with the federal government, which classifies marijuana as an illegal substance.

Because marijuana is in the Controlled Substances Act, only in 2012, U.S. federal agencies reported more than 2,500 operations and destroyed crops over 300,000 plants. The situation makes the call marijuana industry risky business, a company could be in state law but not federal ones.

And the financial picture is also complicated by figuring out how to tax the sale of marijuana, a challenge we are facing Colorado and Washington.

This Thursday, Shively said he is ready for the challenge.

"We have waited long enough for Washington to give the green light. In fact, the silence of the nation's capital has been deafening, "he said," We are moving forward with our plans to build a national and international network of companies of cannabis. "

Mariano Castillo, Kevin Liptak, CNN's Carma Hassan and Joseph Pagliety of CNNMoney contributed to this report