CLACS Blog

August 4, 2008 -- Members of the Washington State Cannabis Eradication Response Team (CERT), shortly before discovering over 5,600 marijuana plants being grown by a group of Mexican nationals (DEA). Photo courtesy of DEA

In his first Internet town hall meeting, Obama was asked if the U.S. should legalize pot as a way to grow jobs and stimulate the economy.

Obama responded: “I don’t know what this says about the online audience, but, no, I don’t think that is a good strategy to grow the economy.”

Now of course he has to say this. His risk of alienating a large portion of the country and losing all support from the proverbial “aisles” is far too great for such a radical idea. But what if the question included avoiding US involvement in the Mexican drug war? Are we going to wait until our politicians, judges and law enforcement officials are infiltrated by the Mexican traffickers before we even consider a novel approach to a problem we have been throwing money and guns at (unsuccessfully) for years?

Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia: COMIBOL

In a speech at the United Nations General Assembly this past September, Bolivian President Evo Morales spoke out against capitalism in the context of climate change:

“The origin of this (climate change and financial) crisis is the exaggerated accumulation of capital in too few hands. It is the permanent removal of natural resources and the commercialization of Mother Earth. The origins come from the system and an economic model of capitalism” (Butler, 2009).

The underlying problem with this anti-capitalist methodology is that Bolivia will indelibly partake in the “commercialization of Mother Earth,” whether it is the national government or foreign companies in control, as the country develops its primary commodity: natural gas. To that end, the Ministry of Hydrocarbons and Energy has recognized that further development of hydrocarbons will engender environmental concerns, as outlined in the September 2008, Estrategia Boliviana de Hidrocarburos. With 710 billion cubic metres (bcm), Bolivia has the second largest natural gas reserves in Latin America. Annually, Bolivia produces about 11.3 bcm for export, of which Brazil takes the lion’s share, at 10 bcm.