Legalizing drugs may help reduce the violent crime that is engulfing the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, the state governor said on Friday.

Seeking a broad strategy to combat the violence, which has brought daily bloodshed to Rio's streets and turned many slums into no-go areas for authorities, Gov. Sergio Cabral also said he planned to draw on techniques from New York City and Colombia.

"A lot of crime in my state and city comes from (drug) prohibition, many young people die in wars over drug selling spots," Cabral told foreign reporters at a briefing.

He wanted to provoke a discussion on drug legalization in Brazil and at a world level, he said.

"Is the United States correct in its conservative policy on drugs? In my view -- absolutely incorrect," said Cabral, who took office on two months ago promising that the fight against crime would be his priority.

Rio de Janeiro has an annual murder rate of about 40 per 100,000 people, one of the highest in Latin America. Drug gangs selling locally control many slums, fighting each other and the police.

Officials often say crime can only be beaten with long-term efforts such education and jobs. Calls to legalize drugs are rare in Brazil.

One of Cabral's first measures as governor was to ask the federal government to send an elite national security force to Rio after a flare-up of violence in December when gangsters attacked police posts and torched buses.

But the hundreds of troopers have had little effect. Last month police and traffickers fought pitched gunbattles in slums. And Rio residents staged protests after carjackers dragged to death a 6-year-old boy.

Cabral said state police, federal agents and the army were now doing intelligence work for sting operations against drug gangs rather than relying on poorly-planned military-style raids that often caused the loss of innocent lives before he took over.

He said Rio could adopt the "zero-tolerance" drive of former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, now a Republican U.S. presidential hopeful, and said Colombia provided examples in opening up slums to provide policing and public services.

More than a million people live in Rio's slums. Cabral said they had to be protected from drug traffickers and often overly violent police incursions.

Police kill about 1,000 suspects a year in Rio and human rights group often accuse police of summary executions.

"We have new instructions for police, they don't go out there on shooting rampages anymore," Cabral said.

Asked about the rise of vigilante groups which have kicked out drug gangs from some slums and charge protection fees from residents, Cabral said they would not be tolerated.

Cabral said he wanted stop an uncontrolled expansion of slums and make existing illegal settlements part of the city, with public services and access for police, ambulances and firefighters.