Legalization in Colorado, Oregon Causing Latin American Countries to Re-Think Their Drug Policies

Policymakers and politicians in Central and South America are openly revolting against decades of American-sponsored anti-drug laws that places their police, soldiers and civilians in harm's way when legalization is taking firm root in the United States.

Mexican congressman Fernando Belaunzarán told Time.com, "Everyone is asking, What sense does it make to keep up such an intense confrontation, which has cost Mexico so much, by trying to keep this substance from going to a country where it’s already regulated and permitted?”

Pot legalization is being seriously considered in countries south of the United States as a way to deny drug cartels revenue from cannabis and to end the violence that's caused by enforcement, particularly in Mexico.

Belaunzarán added, "It’s time the world discuss a new paradigm to confront drugs. In Latin America it’s already happening. And the U.S. is applying it de facto because states are already regulating marijuana."