Mexico City revisited

I'm visiting Mexico City for the first time since the 1985 earthquakes. After all the news about drug violence in Juarez and elsewhere, and the focus on the beheadings and inter-gang warfare, it's quite amazing to find this city of 20-plus million souls as "normal" as it is. True, the country has declared war on the drug traffickers, and that war has spilled over into the general populace in some places, but this city, the largest metropolis in the hemisphere, continues to conduct its business each day without too much problem. I'll post some photos a bit later.

Meanwhile, the Mexican government has enacted one of the most liberal drug-use laws in the hemisphere, decriminalizing possession and use of small amounts of several kinds of substances. In the face of the horrendous drug war the country is involved in, it's an understandable move. Similar laws are in effect in Brazil, Uruguay and, as of this week, in Argentina. See the AP story for details. When will the United States begin to seriously reevaluate its own New Prohibition?