Biden Tells Mexico That Obama Won't Legalize Drugs

On a two-day visit to Central America, Vice President Joe Biden has announced—just in case we were in any doubt—that the US won't be legalizing drugs any time soon. "It's worth discussing, but there is no possibility the Obama-Biden administration will change its policy," he said after meeting with Mexican President Felipe Calderon. Many countries in Central America have been pushing for the US to legalize drugs in an effort to diminish the drug cartels' power. Guatemalan President Otto Pérez Molina left many stunned last month, when he came out in favor of legalization, despite a previous hardline approach. "Guatemala is being crushed by all this," says Bruce Bagley, an expert on drugs and Latin America at the University of Miami. "It's important for Pérez Molina to say that Latin Americans are not willing to let their countries be devastated in order to keep drugs out of the US." Despite the thousands of drug-related deaths throughout Mexico and Central America, Biden believes that legalization would only increase the rates of violence and addiction. The Vice President is meeting with five Central American Presidents in Honduras today, and plans to reiterate his anti-legalization stance.