[420 Girl]

On Tuesday afternoon El Paso Mayor John Cook vetoed a resolution unanimously passed by city council that would have asked the U.S. government to begin a serious debate on legalizing narcotics.

Earlier in the day city council passed a resolution, rationing that the best way to stop the drug wars in Juarez may be to legalize the drugs here in the United States. It was part of a larger resolution outlining several steps for the United States and Mexico to take in order to cut down on the number of murders between rival drug cartels. Last year more than 1,600 people were murdered in Juarez.

"We know that this drug war and this prohibition on drugs is enriching criminals to traffic in narcotics to these communities, which costs the narcotics teams in the U.S. and Mexico billions of dollars," said Councilman Beto O'Rourke, who added the "legalize drug debate" amendment to the already established resolution.

City council members realize it may be extreme to legalize drugs like her*oin, but others like marijuana could make sense. Currently, marijuana accounts for 70 percent of the drugs coming across the border. "Any business will tell you, you take a 70 percent hit to your pocket book, you're going out of business," said Councilman Steve Ortega.

Cook says he understands where the council members are coming from, but he's afraid El Paso would become a national laughing stock if he went to Washington and asked people like Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison to look into legalizing drugs.

"I don't think anybody thinks we should be able to run down to the corner drug store and be able to buy her*oin or coc*aine or metham*phetamines," said Cook.

The resolution is expected to be put back on the agenda next Tuesday. City Council can either overrule the veto with a super majority vote or revise the resolution.

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