( CNN ) -- A former Mexican president who once led a military crackdown on drug cartels now has a new pitch : creating a legal system to produce , distribute and tax marijuana . Vicente Fox is joining a group of entrepreneurs in Seattle this week to discuss that possibility , six months after voters in Washington state approved a ballot measure allowing recreational marijuana use . As president , Fox launched Operation Safe Mexico , which sent soldiers and federal police to eight cities across the country in 2005 as drug cartels expanded their reach . But since leaving office in 2006 , he 's taken a significantly softer stance . For years , he 's pushed for drug legalization . Using military force to fight cartels does n't work , he argues , but legalization would . `` With this we will avoid the violence , '' Fox told CNN 's Wolf Blitzer on Thursday . `` We will control the criminals and reduce their income , and at the same time it would become a transparent , accountable business in the hands of businessmen . '' Speaking to reporters earlier Thursday , Fox praised Washington state 's efforts to legalize marijuana and `` change the paradigm . '' `` In Mexico we welcome this initiative , '' he said , `` because the cost of the war in the case of Mexico is becoming unbearable , too high for Mexico , Latin America and the rest of the world . '' Legalization measures , he argued , ultimately topple the foundations of organized crime . `` We must get out of this trap , and here is the opportunity , ' Fox said . `` Now this group here is moving accordingly from words into plans , and from plans into action , and from action into the arena . To play the real game this group must understand the need to make good , safe , and legal use of these new laws , for the benefit of the people and the common good . '' As Fox spoke , Jamen Shively nodded in agreement . The former Microsoft executive is heading up a new business venture that aims to create the first national brand of retail cannabis in the United States . Fox told CNN he was not involved in Shively 's venture , but sat beside him because he supports the push to move to put the drug trade in the hands of businessmen , not criminals . `` By making cannabis illegal , we have instead turned it into a tool for violence , exploited by criminals and organized crime , spanning many countries , '' Shively said . `` Ladies and gentlemen , this is a unique moment in history . The Berlin Wall of the prohibition of cannabis is weak , and it is crumbling as we speak . And just as happened in Berlin in 1989 , the old guards who used to protect the wall of cannabis prohibition are laying down their weapons and walking away . '' Opponents criticize legalization . But drug legalization still has fierce critics . Obama administration officials have repeatedly stressed their opposition to such proposals when they 've been floated in other countries . Last year , John Walters , who directed the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy from 2001 to 2009 , told CNN that decriminalization is `` utterly self-defeating '' and would cause more crime . Mexico 's current president , Enrique PeÃ±a Nieto , has also expressed his doubts about large-scale legalization measures . In Mexico , marijuana use is not crime , but production and distribution of the drug are . PeÃ±a Nieto told CNN last year that despite his reservations , the way the war on drugs is waged may have to change in light of changing U.S. policies such as the recent referendums in Colorado and Washington . `` Personally , I am not in favor of legalization of drugs ... because it 's not just about marijuana . It seems to me that is a gateway through which people will start taking much more harmful drugs , '' PeÃ±a Nieto said . `` But it 's clear that this thing that has happened in two states in the near future could bring us to rethinking the strategy . '' Complicated political landscape . In November , voters in both Colorado and Washington state approved ballot measures allowing for the personal , recreational use of marijuana . Nearly 20 other states permit the use of marijuana for medical reasons . The new laws put Colorado and Washington at odds with the federal government , which classifies marijuana as an illegal substance . Since pot is still listed in the nation 's Controlled Substances Act , federal raids of pot businesses continue at feverish pace . In 2012 alone , federal agencies seized more than 2,500 indoor grow operations , killing close to 300,000 plants . The situation makes the so-called legal marijuana industry a risky one . A dispensary could be in full compliance with state laws , but the feds could still raid them . And the financial picture is complicated , too . Figuring out how to tax cash marijuana sales is a challenge both Colorado and Washington are facing . On Thursday , Shively said he 's up to the challenge . `` We have waited long enough for some sort of a green light from Washington , D.C . In fact , the silence from our nation 's capital has been deafening , '' he said . `` We are moving forward with our plans to build a national and eventually international network of cannabis businesses . '' Follow Catherine Shoichet on Twitter . CNN 's Mariano Castillo , Kevin Liptak and Carma Hassan and CNNMoney 's Jose Pagliery contributed to this report .
With legalization , Vicente Fox says , `` we avoid the violence '' of the drug trade . He says marijuana production and distribution should be in the hands of businessmen . The government would regulate it to ensure that no one is profiting from its sale or use. The former Mexican president says he is n't involved in the business , but supports it .