Earlier this month, two US states voted to legalise, regulate and tax marijuana. The BBC’s Will Grant in Mexico City looks at what this shift in stance could mean for Mexico and its fight against the drug gangs.

On the day voters in Washington state chose to re-elect President Barack Obama, they also chose to legalise the recreational use of marijuana. Over the Rockies in Colorado, it was a similar story.

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What has happened in the US has moved things forward, because this debate is crucial”

Fernando Belauzaran

Mexican politician

Burning questions about legal pot

Uruguay bill to legalise drug use

“What happened in Colorado and Washington was truly revolutionary,” says Beau Kilmer, the co-director of the Rand Drug Policy Research Centre in California. “No modern country has ever removed the prohibition on the production and distribution of marijuana for non-medical purposes.”

via BBC News – US marijuana legalisation fuels Mexico drugs war debate.