Politics Outside US

A decade ago, they were a small group of elite Mexican soldiers who saw a chance to make a lot more money working as hitmen for powerful drug trafficking organizations. Today, the "Zetas" are the most feared gang in Mexico. Their vicious tactics, geographic reach and expansion into new illegal businesses presents a new kind of threat in a drug prohibition war that has already killed 29,000 people since late 2006.

Residents in Ciudad Juarez, the epicentre of Mexico's bloody drug prohibition war, say authorities are going after small offenders and innocent people such as poor workers even as they allow powerful drug lords to operate with impunity. President Felipe Calderon is under pressure to show results in his offensive against traffickers in Ciudad Juarez where he has deployed more than 7,500 soldiers and police, making the crackdown a central part of his war on drug trafficking organizations. But rights groups say corrupt or ineffective police and soldiers have rounded up hundreds of drug addicts and ordinary people in the manufacturing city across from El Paso, Texas without making major drug busts or arresting top capos.

Amid a bloody war against drug trafficking organizations, Mexican President Felipe Calderon said that he was sending Congress a plan to overhaul the country's police system by doing away with local forces. The idea, called "unified command," has been debated for months, as the death toll from the nearly 4-year-old drug prohibition war surpassed 28,000 and signs of police collusion with crime syndicates continued to pile up.

The player unions representing soccer players and cricketers in England have called for recreational drugs to be removed from the World Anti-Doping Agency's prohibited list. "For the number of players who have tested positive for cocaine, the consequences are far from performance-enhancing and the outcomes in the majority of cases have been very negative," said John Bramhall, deputy chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association. Ian Smith, the Professional Cricketers' Association's legal director, agreed that recreational drug use isn't usually about gaining an unfair advantage, saying "Marijuana is not a big issue with cheating in sport -- let's get it off the (WADA) list."

Tom Chivers opines that the "Portugal Experience" suggests that decriminalization is exactly the right approach for the priorities of reducing drug use and reducing crime in the UK.

Mexican mayors have been forced to move to the US for safety in the face of threats from drug traffickers. Five mayors have been murdered in the past six weeks, with a total of 10 killed this year. About 15 mayors have been killed since President Felipe Calderon declared war on Mexico's drug traffickers shortly after taking office in December 2006.

Delia Lloyd opines on freedom of the press in Mexico being curtailed by prohibition-related violence. She concludes with "I've got news for you, Mr. President. You may not want to say it out loud, but Mexico has become Colombia."