A heated debate is underway among senior officials in Mexico over whether the government should legalise the use and sale of marijuana.

The discussion comes as violence from competing drug cartels in the country continues to spiral out of control, claiming thousands of lives every year.

Felipe Calderon, Mexico's president, has said he is firmly against the legalisation, arguing that it would only create "millions" of more drug addicts.

But Vicente Fox, the country's former president and member of Calderon's conservative National Action Party, has urged the government to legalise drugs in order to "break the economic structure that allows gangs to generate huge profits in their trade, which feeds corruption and increases their areas of power".

"We should consider legalising the production, distribution and sale of drugs" because "radical prohibition strategies have never worked," he explained.

Al Jazeera's Franc Contreras reports from Mexico City, the capital.

[August 13., 2010]