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Mexico May Allow Some Cocaine, Heroin Use
Mark Stevenson | Houston Chronicle | 04/29/06

Mexicans would be allowed to possess small amounts of cocaine, heroin, even ecstasy for their personal use under a bill approved by lawmakers that some worry could prove to be a lure to young Americans.

The bill now only needs President Vicente Fox's signature to become law and that does not appear to be an obstacle. His office said that decriminalizing drugs will free up police to focus on major dealers.

"This law gives police and prosecutors better legal tools to combat drug crimes that do so much damage to our youth and children," said Fox's spokesman, Ruben Aguilar.

The Senate approved the bill Friday in the final hours of its closing session. Mexico's lower house had already endorsed the legislation.

The measure appeared to surprise U.S. officials. State Department spokeswoman Janelle Hironimus said the department was trying to get "more information" about it. One U.S. diplomat, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly, said "we're still studying the legislation, but any effort to decriminalize illegal drugs would not be helpful."

Some worried the law would increase drug addiction in Mexico and cause problems with the United States. Millions of American youths visit Mexico's beach resorts and border towns each year.

"A lot of Americans already come here to buy medications they can't get up there ... Just imagine, with heroin," said Ulisis Bon, a drug treatment expert in Tijuana, where heroin use is rampant.

In off-the-record chats and through their communications with U.S. officials, Mexican officials tried to depict the drug bill as a simple clarification of existing laws. But the changes are clear.

Currently, Mexican law leaves open the possibility of dropping charges against people caught with drugs if they can prove they are drug addicts and if an expert certifies they were caught with "the quantity necessary for personal use."

The new bill drops the "addict" requirement, allows "consumers" to have drugs, and sets out specific allowable quantities, which do not appear in the current law.

Those quantities are sometimes eye-popping: Mexicans would be allowed to posses 2.2 pounds of peyote, the button-sized hallucinogenic cactus used in some Indian religious ceremonies.

Police would no longer bother with possession of up to 25 milligrams of heroin, 5 grams of marijuana (about one-fifth of an ounce, or about four joints), or 0.5 grams of cocaine—the equivalent of about 4 "lines," or half the standard street-sale quantity.

The law lays out allowable quantities for a large array of other drugs, including LSD, MDA, MDMA (ecstasy, about two pills' worth), and amphetamines.

However the bill stiffens penalties for trafficking and possession of drugs—even small quantities—by government employees or near schools, and maintains criminal penalties for drug sales.

Sales of all those drugs would remain illegal under the proposed law, unlike in the Netherlands, where the sale of marijuana for medical use is legal and it can be bought with a prescription in pharmacies.

And while Dutch authorities look the other way regarding the open sale of cannabis in designated coffee shops—something Mexican police seem unlikely to do—the Dutch have zero tolerance for heroin and cocaine.

Sen. Miguel Angel Navarro of the leftist Democratic Revolution Party argued against the bill. "This authorizes the consumption of opium, morphine, heroin, cocaine, and a variety of drugs that can only be bought illicitly."

Roman Catholic Bishop Jose Guadalupe Martin Rabago, president of the Mexican Council of Bishops, also expressed concern.

"It's not by legalizing the possession or use of drugs that drug trafficking is going to be combatted," the bishop told reporters, "and that's why the government should be cautious about implementing this measure."

The law comes at a time of heightened tensions over a U.S. proposal for immigration reform, including legalization of many of America's estimated 11 million undocumented migrants.

A demonstration by thousands of Mexican workers Friday to promote union solidarity turned into a protest against America's vast influence on the nation's economy, with many protesters saying they will take part in a boycott of U.S. products next week. The proposed boycott is timed to coincide with Monday's "Day Without Immigrants" protest in the U.S., aimed at pushing Congress to approve the immigration reform.

Ethan Nadelmann, director of the New York-based Drug Policy Alliance, said Mexico's bill removed "a huge opportunity for low-level police corruption." Mexican police often release people detained for minor drug possession, in exchange for bribes.

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dedbr

Hasta la Vista, baby.......

That as they say, is that!

__________________
"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."

Abraham Lincoln
Happy New Year.......

Derram

And its Mexcio, out of left field with the save!! I had lost hope after the whole Canada thing...
Now, we just sit back and watch what the US gov does about this. You ask me they're screwed either way, Do nothing = acceptence, do something = stepping on toes... heh. I know they won't be taking this lying down... And what happens five years down the line, when we see Mexico hasn't spiraled out of control(gotten worse???)? They're way to close to us to ignore.... We're living in interesting times my friends...
Thought the negative is, price might go up. I also notice a lack of info on what happens to growers...

vladimir

umm, from the stories my friends have told me of encounters with mexican law enforcement, it seems that what the actual legal situation is doesnt really matter. what matters is how much money is in your wallet, because that is exactly how much they will charge you.
still good to see a country stand up and try to do the right thing.

just as a side note, i was up in canada a month ago, and everyone i met said that the conservative govt would be gone soon. i hope they are right.

__________________
If a drug (or technique or process) were ever to be discovered which would consistently produce a plus four experience in all human beings, it is conceivable that it would signal the ultimate evolution, and perhaps the end of, the human experiment.

quickie

This will NOT help the cause. The only way any decrim/legal scheme is going to work is if there is a provision for aquiring the drug through legal means. The cartels will still be supplying the drugs and the Mexican govt is much too corrupt. What the legalization movement needs to focus on is not that pot is relativly benign when compared to legal drugs but the organized crime aspect.
Just an opinion.

 

casketfour

"umm, from the stories my friends have told me of encounters with mexican law enforcement, it seems that what the actual legal situation is doesnt really matter. what matters is how much money is in your wallet, because that is exactly how much they will charge you."

i've been to mexico a few times and the last time was acapulco guererro and sure enough we were pulled over on the side of the road and i said to our driver is weed legal here he says, "no but you can still smoke as long as you are not driving"

i said "what about cops?"

he says " if the cops come and say anything just be prepared to give them a some money, let me do the talking and everything should be alright"

we didn't get caught smoking but in the middle of the night i made the man pull over so i could piss in an alley and sure enough a cop came and instead of writing us a fine or arresting me /doing whatever they would do in that situation i had to give him some money

dedbr

the "drug problem" was a US problem because of our huge appetite brought about by prohibition. He also said that his country was broke and simply didn't have the money to support the "war on drug's" to make the US happy, and he wouldn't.

They had the recent conference in Mexico with the new Canadian conservative whosis and Bush, remember. I bet that was all fun and games, huh? Fox saying, "Screw you guys, your madmen! I can't even feed these people and get them schooling, you want me to worry about whether they smoke a joint?
Ya know what, Gringo's, here's the solution. I'm sending them to you. You deal with them. It's obvious you've got it all figured out, so you take care of them."

"Oh yeah, thanks for helping out.... "

Oh, if this was only true.....

Only in Ded Land.....

Little Nicky

You hit the nail right on the head. The cops don't really want to be bothered with the paperwork involved in possession charges unless you're a gringo then they'll bust your chops.

dedbr

There wouldn't be an organized crime aspect if herb was legalized, would there?

Besides, it's not relatively benign, it is benign.




Huh. Huh. Well, uh, now come on, Nick. This stereotype of mexican policemen is going to get someone in trouble if we put to much creedence to it I think.

There might be a danger in that. I'm sure there's some hard chargers in there forces, too.

Dalamar49

Woooooooooooo!

Viva Mexico! Now I can enjoy strip clubs and weed when I visit Tijuana!