President Behind Mexico’s War On Drugs Admitted It Was ‘Unwinnable’
In 2018, Calderón told VICE News that he first deployed the army in 2006 after a request from a state governor who said he had lost control.

'We got very good results at the beginning,' he said, adding: 'Honestly, I think nobody expected that the violence could reach those levels. However, I insist, I'm absolutely clear that violence started because of the fight to control territory between the organised crime groups, between the cartels, not because of the action of the government.'

Questioned about how Mexican military action led the narco gangs to fragment without appearing to impact the overall ability of criminals to traffic drugs, Calderón said in 2018: 'Of course there will be some rearrangements or instability or whatever, but the end of the game is exactly when you take over completely or recover completely the control for the citizens.'

He also blamed America's gun laws: 'The US government, Congress, and society honestly did not do anything to stop the flow of money, to stop the flow of weapons. Actually, the paradox is we seize like 106,000 guns and weapons, and 90 percent of them were sold legally in the US.'

In 2009, following Calderon's own proposals, new laws to decriminalise personal possession of small quantities of some drugs were passed - suggesting he accepted the inevitability of drug use - after previous plans were scrapped due to US opposition.

In 2016, a special session of the United Nations was convened after a joint request in 2012 from Calderón's Mexico, as well as heads of state in Guatemala and Colombia - whose then president Juan Manuel Santos led the efforts - to discuss radically overhauling the UN's prohibitionist approach to drugs. However, the session left reformers disappointed, as no significant changes to the global drug control regime were passed.

http://www.publicnow.com/view/36CD019DC3C0B997608446E2417F131902A5F88A?1600960676