UNITED NATIONS: Outgoing Mexican President Felipe Calderon pleaded with the United Nations Wednesday to examine the "limits" of the war on drugs and weigh alternatives to the fight in which thousands die every year.
"I demand that the United Nations not only take part in, but that it lead, a discussion without prejudices ... that could bring us all to solutions that have new and efficient focuses," Calderon told the UN General Assembly.
In his last address to the world body before he steps down December 1, Calderon charged that most countries have not owned up to the role they play in deadly organized drug crime, "the biggest cause of violent crime in the world."
The United Nations "must honestly examine, with academic rigor and global responsibility, what the (policy) alternatives could be -- specifically regulatory and market-based alternatives -- so that we can determine if they are really alternatives or not."
"That does not mean that we will be letting down our guard," warned Calderon.
Mexico's relentless drug war has claimed more than 60,000 lives since 2006, when his government deployed troops to break up drug cartels.
Calderon has been one of the most high-profile figures in the war on drugs.
But more recently, as he prepares to hand over power to Enrique Pena Nieto, who was elected in July, Calderon has advocated alternatives _ an increasingly common demand among Latin American leaders.
Until not long ago the standard Mexican government position was to oppose legalization of drugs as a way of snuffing out the profit motive for cartels.
"It is time to act and stop this wave of death that is causing so much suffering," Calderon said.
Consumer nations, with the United States on top, have not managed to make a significant dent demand for drugs, Calderon said.
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