Guatemala mulls taxing sale of opium poppies

Guatemala is considering the possibility of earning taxes from the sale of opium poppies to help fund drug prevention programmes and other social spending, the country's interior minister said.

The Central American state is looking at ways to legalize poppy and marijuana production, part of a broader shift in attitudes across Latin America away from the huge financial and social costs of the U.S.-backed war on drugs.

Almost all of Guatemala's poppy production is concentrated in three municipalities located close to the border with Mexico and has been funded traditionally by Mexican drug gangs.

Source: Reuters