It takes a lot of guts to bring this to the table for discussion, considering the worldwide condemnation of drugs decriminalisation. The war against drugs hasn’t worked to date. The amount of people who have died at the hands of organised criminals involving the drugs trade is staggering in South America. What the authorities seize annually is only a small fraction of what is actually moved. Taking it out of the hands of the cartels is sure to be a difficult task, but an open dialogue on the prospect can only be welcomed. Also worth noting, that by putting his views out in the public domain, he has also put his life at risk, as the drug lords would rather keep things as they are, and would eliminate anyone who tries to destroy their lucrative industry.

Of course it will be shot down at the first fence, but that it is being considered by anyone in a position of political power is at the very least a step in the right direction. The drugs trade isn’t going to go away any time soon, so a fresh approach to the problem can only be seen as progressive.

More power to him. What people consume is their own business.

Still I’m an optimist, this is more leeway now than has been given in the past.
The USA will oppose though the worst i see happening would be trade sanctions against the country. Guatemala leads with one of the highest murder rates in central America due to drugs.

I wonder if there is a support page for his policy?

Yeah, the US isn’t going to let that happen.

* Colombia, Peru, Mexico or Afghanistan with their coca leaves, marijuana buds or poppy sap are not igniting temptation in the minds of our weak, innocent citizens. These countries are duly responding to the enormous demand that comes from within our own borders. Invading or destroying these countries, thus creating more hate, violence, instability, injustice and corruption, will not fix our problem.

* A rather large majority of people will always feel the need to use drugs such as heroin, opium, nicotine, amphetamines, alcohol, sugar, or caffeine.

* The massive majority of adults who use drugs do so recreationally – getting high at the weekend then up for work on a Monday morning.

* Apart from the huge percentage of people addicted to both sugar and caffeine, a small minority of adults (nearly 5%) will always experience the use of drugs as problematic. – approx. 3% are dependent on alcohol and approx. 1.5% are dependent on other drugs such as methamphetamine, cocaine, heroine etc.

* Just as it was impossible to prevent alcohol from being produced and used in the U.S. in the 1920s, so too, it is equally impossible to prevent any of the aforementioned drugs from being produced, distributed and widely used by those who desire to do so.

* Prohibition kills more people and ruins more lives than the drugs it prohibits.

* Prescription drugs kill over 200,000 Americans every year– even when taken as directed and not abused.

* Due to Prohibition (historically proven to be an utter failure at every level), the availability of most of these mood-altering drugs has become so universal and unfettered that in any city of the civilized world, any one of us would be able to procure practically any drug we wish within an hour.

* Throughout history, the prohibition of any mind-altering substance has always exploded usage rates, overcrowded jails, fueled organized crime, created rampant corruption of law-enforcement – even whole governments, while inducing an incalculable amount of suffering and death.

* Apart from the fact that the DEA is the de facto enforcement wing of the pharmaceutical industry, the involvement of the CIA in running Heroin from Vietnam, Southeast Asia and Afghanistan and Cocaine from Central America has been well documented by the 1989 Kerry Committee report, academic researchers Alfred McCoy and Peter Dale Scott, and the late journalist Gary Webb.

* It’s not even possible to keep drugs out of prisons, but prohibitionists wish to waste trillions of dollars in an utterly futile attempt to keep them off our streets.

* The United States jails a larger percentage of it’s own citizens than any other country in the world, including those run by the worst totalitarian regimes, yet it has far higher use/addiction rates than most other countries.

* Prohibition is the “Goose that laid the golden egg” and the lifeblood of terrorists as well as drug cartels. Both the Taliban and the terrorists of al Qaeda derive their main income from the prohibition-inflated value of the opium poppy. An estimated 44 % of the heroin produced in Afghanistan, with an estimated annual destination value of US $ 27 Billion, transits through Pakistan. Prohibition has essentially destroyed Pakistan’s legal economy and social fabric. – We may be about to witness the planet’s first civil war in a nation with nuclear capabilities. – Kindly Google: ‘A GLOBAL OVERVIEW OF NARCOTICS-FUNDED TERRORIST GROUPS’ Only those opposed, or willing to ignore these facts, want things the way they are.

* The future depends on whether or not enough of us are willing to take a long look at the tragic results of prohibition. If we continue to skirt the primary issue while refusing to address the root problem then we can expect no other result than a worsening of the current dire situation. – Good intentions, wishful thinking and pseudoscience are no match for the immutable realities of human nature.

Never have so many been endangered and impoverished by so few so quickly!

* The urge to save humanity is almost always a false-face for the urge to rule it. – H. L. Mencken (1880-1956) American editor, essayist and philologist.

What a narrow mind Paul.. Take those two imposable thumbs of yours out ya ass an research the levels of fluoride in our drinking water for instance and see the damage that does to ya brain!! We can tit for tat all day but we won’t get anywhere.. Weed is here an it’s stayin here, the question is wether were gonna take it out of the scum dealers hands an into the publics where it can be regulated!! Stop all the needless police hours spent on catching people for a plant an concentrate on the real issues that cripple our society!! Nuff said I tink?

The man should be congratulated for taking an open minded stance. If only other leaders could do the same. It’s a start, anyway…

A very sensible proposal ,grass isn’t ‘a gate way’ or dangerous drug ( WHO., admit No Deaths associated with hemp ) look at Israel now their doctors have cleared it for Medical use and the State is now opening farms to produce it. Time Ireland woke up,look at Holland the size of munster and over three times our population and they have under 6% …unemployment that is

America tru the ages has been built on drugs!!! The main earner for the bush family has been poppy running from Afghanistan.. During the early 60′s tru till prob this day the C.I.A has been flying cocaine from south America to Florida in exchange for arms!! Very hypocritical for those bastards but it hasn’t stopped them before! Lol

He’s bluffing. It would be tantamount to an act of war on neighbouring countries and he knows it. The most tyrannical regimes on the planet have taken actions such as these and been left isolated.

Very astute politically if it gets him more aid to fight crime and also more action on the part of his neighbours looking after their own turf. That’s Politics101 courtesy of Guatemala folks.

Weed will mess up your minds, paranoia very common @ gerard.Potheads are self centered selfish people for the most part.whitney houston started out on pot,it is the gate way drug after all. KEEP THIS SHIT OUT OF IRELAND, the place f+++ed up enough!