Former Mexican President Vicente Fox opened day two of CannaCon with a passionate speech about the role cannabis has played in Mexico’s past, present, and future, America’s failed drug war, border security, cannabis trade potential, and the CannaMexico World Summit. CannaMexico will take place in May 2018 and is designed to lay the groundwork for Mexico’s recreational cannabis system, one Fox hopes will take many methods from Washington’s recreational market.
“After seeing your impressive exhibits, it’s clear to me a new world is born here,” Fox said.
Fox believes our industry and other state-regulated cannabis markets are the start of the paradigm shift to completely end cannabis prohibition. Our cannabis industry is creating jobs, funding our government, and regulating the quality of its products. All of these measures reduce crime, the black market and severely decrease murders linked to the black market sale of cannabis.
Cannabis prohibition started in the United States after the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 when Harry Anslinger demonized cannabis by spreading misinformation about its effects and linking it with a tribal fear of Mexican immigrants committing hyper-exaggerated crimes. Prohibition hit the peak of insanity when Nixon passed the Controlled Substance Act in 1970 and officially labeled Cannabis as a schedule I drug.
This insanity is still being dealt with in the United States and on the streets of Mexico. Cannabis is still one of the largest income sources for the drug cartels, their grip on certain regions had made it dangerous for everyone including journalists. 60-80 kids are killed on the streets of Mexico every day, Fox said. 40 journalists have been killed in Mexico between 1992 and 2018, the Committee To Protect Journalists reports.
Washington’s cannabis industry is showing it can be regulated and taken out of the hands of criminals in a responsible manner. Fox hopes the CannaMexico World Summit will show Mexican politicians and citizens the same thing is possible in their country.
Another vital issue Fox brought up was border security and how it relates to trade. Fox envisions a future where the Amerian-Mexican border is just as safe and crime free as the Canadian-American border. A future where all of North American opens its borders and cannabis becomes just another imported and exported product. Fox referred to this potential future as “this united region of North America.”
Fox sees cannabis as a way to sure up his country’s future and lessen the economic disparity between them and the United States. Fox believes the steps taken on the state level in America will help usher in a new cannabis-friendly era on a nationwide level in Mexico, an era Fox hopes to start at the CannaMexico World Summit in May. Mexico has already legalized medical use of marijuana nationwide.
Vicente Fox Speaking At CannaCon Seattle 2018
