October 24, 2011 1:20PM 

# Vicente Fox on Legalizing Drugs 

By [Ian Vásquez](https://www.cato.org/people/ian-vasquez) 

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Last week, former Mexican President Vicente Fox spoke at a [Cato forum](https://www.cato.org/event.php?eventid=8452) on the need to legalize the consumption, production and sale of all drugs. (You may also see [C‑Span’s coverage ](http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/302158-1)of the event.) President Fox took time to do a [BBC interview](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15379360?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter) below on the same topic.

By calling for an end to the drug war, he joins prominent figures from around the world—including former Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, former Mexican foreign minister Jorge Castañeda, former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz, and many others—who are calling for policies that treat drug abuse as a social problem, rather than a criminal one. Join us for a major Cato conference, [“Ending the Global War on Drugs,” ](https://www.cato.org/drugconference/)on November 15, where the above opinion leaders will address the harm of prohibition and realistic policy alternatives.

##### Related Tags 

[Constitutional Law](https://www.cato.org/constitutional-law), [Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies](https://www.cato.org/robert-levy-center-constitutional-studies) 

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