Former Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged on Thursday the start of an international debate on drug legalization, after stating that the policy of the Mexican president, Felipe Calderón is not working.

“When one looks at the results of Mexican president Calderón’s efforts, most will say it did not work. Too many people have been killed. The Drug Policy has to change, and we need to start with a debate and a discussion,” said Annan at the Brookings Institution.

Annan participated last year in the work of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, chaired by former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, and advocated decriminalization. President Calderon, whose war against organized crime has killed more than 60 thousand Mexicans, recently asked the United Nations General Assembly for an open discussion on the topic.

Annan, who presented his autobiography in Washington, explained: “We have enforced the [drug] laws for decades, filling the prisons with young people whose lives were destroyed by drugs. We have to address this issue through education, health, and not with the brutal reaction”.

While the country awaits the creation of a national group specializing in police repression on crack, as announced by the National Public Security Secretary Ricardo Balestreri, Minas Gerais research, discusses and proposes alternatives to drug abuse on the national scene.

At least that is the objective of the research which is being conducted by the coordinator of the Research Center of Public Security of the Catholic University of Minas Gerais (Cepesp) and by the Executive Secretary of the Institute Minas for Peace, Luis Flávio Sapori.

To read the full article, in Portuguese, visit Comunidade Segura.