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This article lays out the reasons why Uruguay's government is considering legalization of marijuana. It has already been decriminalized and full legalization would allow the government to benefit economically from production. The profits could stimulate the economy and even be used to treat drug addicts and go towards drug education. Also, legalization would take power away from deadly cartels.

This article was very interesting. To me, it seems that Uruguay has been searching for a way to combat what the war on drugs has done to the cartels. This is vastly different to the approach the United States is taking in regards to marijuana. I wonder if we will see any of the affects here, in addition to how the U.S. government views government controlled marijuana. I feel that ong term, the different drug strategies could potentially change the U.S.'s current stance on drug policies if they prove their effectivness.

wow, great discussion! I've been working my way down from the top adding some comments and was wondering about decriminalization up above! This reminded me that there's a ballot initiative in Washington state this election year that could pass re legalization of marijuana, which would put the states vs the feds in an interesting position if so. I was looking for some info, and found this background on a site called ballotpedia -- which I didn't know existed and am definitely going to be using in the future! http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Washington_Marijuana_Legalization_and_Regulation,_Initiative_502_(2012)

Of particular interest in this article is the methodology utilized to combat the increasing threat of Mexican drug cartels. Operation Fast and Furious underlines the fact that at the core, Americans are being forced to consider with more and more gravity the problem of Mexican drug cartels. The fact that "hundreds of weapons" were able to be lost, and subsequently passed into cartel hands, just goes to show the desperation of the United States government in concern to this real and visceral threat on our southern border. Furthermore, the article shows the problem in using weapons and ammunition to further a purpose. We saw the misguided delivery of weapons backfire on us during the Soviet-Afghan conflict, so it leaves one wondering when we'll figure out that this may not be the best way to engage in foreign policy.

To what extent do you think this is a domestic policy issue for the US as well as a foreign policy issue? Certainly the Central and South American countries rightly point out that if demand for drugs wasn't so fierce in the US the drug trade would be greatly diminished. Not to mention that drug crimes are one of the reasons that we have so many people in prison, along with the enormous costs (in money and lives) that are consumed in keeping the prison system going. Is this a topic where social scientists should be able to help out? To what extend does what we know from social science and medical science inform our laws? Even if we couldn't work out completely the demand issue on our end, is it possible if we made a significant dent in it, that it would make enough of a difference that progress could be made at the production end in disrupting that node? It seems to me we don't hear much from scientists in regard to this issue -- why not?

As Brazil prepares to host both the World Cup and the 2016 Olympics, gang violence and police murders overshadow the progress the cities Sao Paulo and Rio De Janiero are making. This year, 95 officers have been murdered in the Sao Paulo area alone, mostly by members of the PCC retaliating against the police. The situation in Rio is being somewhat improved in Rio as the police attempt to regain control of the cities many favelas.

Bigger cities are always going to have higher homicide rates. I do wonder if it will die down for the world cup. I imagine the world cup would be captivating enough to a Brazilian city to stop violence for a few weeks.

I don't think the issue is that the world cup is not a big enough event to stop the violence. The homicide rate in Sao Paulo is so high because the police to not have control of much of the city. The extremely poverty stricken areas (favelas) are run by criminal gangs. Corruption and economic disparity keep the gangs in power. In fact, in some areas the police's attempts to "clean up" the city have further angered the gangs which is why police officers are being targeted more than ever. The situation is unfortunately complicated and severe.

Here's another article regarding current drug policy in Latin America. In this article the author explains why this joint declaration (no pun intended) is particularly unique since it triggers an actual evaluative process within the UN.

In reading this article, it is clearly stated that the U.S.'s war on drugs was of little benefit to the whole of Latin America. It seems that the joint declaration is a last effort to relieve some of the violence and upset occuring from drug wars. Interestingly, I feel this evaluative process could be what is necessary to relieve some of the surrounding tensions. The U.S. and Latin American need to find a common goal from which to work, in order to improve the struggles are ongoing.