MEXICO CITY, (Reuters) – All drugs including cocaine, heroin and crystal meth will be legal in drug-scarred Mexico within 10 years, former Mexican President Vicente Fox believes, after a court ruling that he said makes the legalization of marijuana inevitable.
“I think marijuana (legalization) is a first step,” Fox said in a telephone interview on Tuesday. “It’s now irreversible.”
Fox was president between 2000 and 2006 and became an advocate of legalizing drugs after leaving office.
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court approved growing marijuana for recreational use. The landmark decision blasts open the door for an eventual legalization in Mexico, where warring gangs have waged a decade of drug violence.
Now that the court has ruled that it is unconstitutional to prevent people from smoking marijuana, Fox said it would eventually have to make a similar decision for drugs like cocaine and heroin.
“The other drugs will take a longer cycle, say five to 10 years,” he said.
In a 2013 interview, Fox told Reuters he believed Mexico could legalize pot by the end of current Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto’s six-year term in 2018, which had seemed far-fetched to many at the time, but now appears possible.
