An ex-president and supporter of the legalization of marijuana has joined the board of directors of the company that owns the United States marijuana magazine High Times.

Vicente Fox, who served as Mexico’s president from 2000 to 2006, joins the board just as Hightimes Holding Corp prepares for an initial public offering on the Nasdaq exchange later this year.

High Times CEO Adam Levin said Fox was an invaluable addition to the board: “Vicente Fox brings international relationships and decades of experience in business, politics and policy to the company.”

Fox has been a vocal proponent of the global legalization of marijuana for a number of years.

In an interview with the Associated Press he said he believed a robust and legitimate marketplace in the U.S. and Mexico will inevitably curtail the latter’s cartel violence by hurting their profits and limiting their ability to buy weapons. He also expected it will create jobs and medicines.

Of High Times Fox said, “It’s very rare to see an organization in a growing industry that has already established so much strength and significance — especially before the industry was even truly born.”

He praised the publication, which was established in 1974, for building “an empire in the dark,” adding that “there’s never been a better opportunity to join the fight.”

Fox suggested that cannabis trade could someday fall under the parameters of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Canada approved legislation this week that legalizes marijuana.

“I don’t think that governments will ever have the capacity to impose behaviors, to impose conduct, to human beings,” Fox told the AP. “At the very end, prohibitions don’t work. What works is your own free decision.”

Like Fox, High Times has long advocated the legalization of cannabis.

Source: NPR (en)