But be aware that in Mexico the law is much more dependent on the locals than in the US.  Half a gram of  pot may theoretically be legal but it might be very expensive and time consuming proving it to the local magistrate.

You obviously have no background on how free market economics work, so I will spare you the embarrassment. Legalization will create competition for the “drug kingpins” thus resulting in their losing their grip on power. Have you never heard of prohibition in the U.S. With your attitude we’d probably still have beer barons running the streets and terrorizing any form of competition. Do you think if we would of killed Al Capone, the problem would be solved? If your theory is correct, then killing Pablo Escobar should of ended the whole cocaine problem, yea NO thats not going to solve the problem HA HA HA. So lets give everyone bigger weapons with more ammunition to go and kill each other, that and a few hundred innocent pedestrians right?? Have you ever even researched the “Drugs on War” campaign? (honestly have you been living under a rock???) The U.S. has supplied plenty of high powered weapons, vehicles, and money to fight this “Drugs on War” and so far its only made things worse! What happened when prohibition was repealed??? Yea no more beer barons and black markets. As long as their is a need, there will always be a supply, and supplying more guns only makes hungry power bastards from both ends go trigger happy. Putting any laws prohibiting that need, will result in black markets, and as we can all see, anything goes in those markets…..

In theory, legalization would push prices down as drugs would become easily available and because reputable pharmaceutical companies would get involved in the development and distribution of safe and cheap alternatives.

Ha ha ha. What I would like to see is the implementation process of this theory.

Let’s say that Mexico decides to legalize drugs and by definition the drug trade. Then what? Mr. Drug Baron, who is already paying hefty bribes on both sides of the border to run his business and has a complicated network that goes all the way from producing to distributing and pushing, agrees with this ‘wonderful’ idea and goes legal?

So he registers “Fumate Un Churro S.A.” in Mexico and “Fly High Inc.” in the U.S.A. Enrolls his gangsters in the IMSS (social security), exchanges their guns for business cards, starts raising invoices, paying taxes and allowing the government to regulate the selling price of this produce? All these to see his revenues and profits plummet because the demand is not there anymore as Pfizer and Novartis are producing safer and cheaper alternatives to good’ol coke and marihuana?

Ha ha ha. Wake up and smell the coffee! Legalizing drugs without getting rid of the drug cartels FIRST will only give users a cheaper ride to lah-lah-land and will increase the violence exponentially.

So, how about having the Americans commit to selling to someone else the top-notch weapons that have been empowering the drug cartels? Hey! How about giving those weapons to the Mexican drug squads instead so that they can fight on equal grounds with the gangsters? … and how about if the Americans lend Mexican authorities their international agents, specialized in finding the really bad guys (the ones that found Sadam Hussein, please, not the ones that are still looking for Osama Bin Laden) to locate the drug barons? This way you leave the ‘little bad guys’ headless and under-armed and easier to control … and then, we can all take a ride on those 3 Black Hawks that the USA so kindly suggested to donate to fight the drug war, and we can all can take some lovely aerial pictures of a safer Mexico.