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Plainsman1963

Mexico lawmakers work to revive drug bill
06-15-06 | LocalNewsLeader.Com | IOAN GRILLO

Mexican lawmakers are working to revive their bill decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana, cocaine and heroin, and hope to override a veto if necessary, saying the reform will help curb drug-related violence that has killed more than 600 people this year.

President Vicente Fox called on Congress to drop decriminalization from the drug-law overhaul after intense lobbying from the U.S. State Department and mayors of several U.S. border cities, who called it a disaster that would encourage hordes of young Americans to cross the border for "drug tourism." Mexico‘s Roman Catholic Church also opposes it.

But the issue isn‘t going away, and with every new battle over drugs in Mexico City, Acapulco or the violent northern border cities, public pressure grows for reforms to laws that many say police can‘t enforce.

Lawmakers say they had people like Jair Jimenez in mind when they decided to decriminalize "personal use" amounts of marijuana, cocaine and heroin. Jimenez, 28, smoked and sold crack cocaine in Mexico City‘s tough Tepito barrio for a decade until a rival dealer put six bullets in him last July.

Under existing Mexican law, drug dealing is a federal crime, and so local police usually leave it to federal authorities to take on armed drug gangs, and fill arrest quotas with small-time users, Garcia said. The bill Congress passed last month with the support of all major parties would empower local police as well as federal agents to investigate drug pushers.

The president‘s spokesman initially said Fox would sign it, but he rebuffed it after the uproar broke out.

Devout Roman Catholics, part of Calderon‘s base, are generally against it. "Mexico, I warn, could become even more violent," said Cardinal Norberto Rivera, the Archbishop of Mexico City.

"Crack is the No. 1 problem we have in our cities," said Victor Guisa, head of the government‘s 96 drug rehabilitation clinics. "Addicts end up smoking vast quantities of rocks, making them strung out and prone to violence and schizophrenia."

"All these crimes we are seeing, all these executions have more to do with street dealing than with the big narcotics trafficking," said Attorney General Daniel Cabeza de Vaca.

"Everyday, the list gets longer," said Jimenez, the shooting survivor, laying his palm on a mural showing the faces and names of dozens of young men shot dead in drug disputes. "This violence is exterminating our people."

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Hansje

They've got the right idea at least for marijuana. It makes sense in more ways than one. With the U.S. tightening up its border with Mexico, the marijuana flowing north and the dollars that the Mexican economy depends on flowing south has got to have an alternative. That alternative, my friends, is for there to be cannabis coffeeshops on the Mexican side of the border. That way Americans can still get their weed and Mexicans can still get the dollars. The demand that has been created will still exist, so either there will be more domestic production or the price for foreign marijuana will go up if it becomes riskier to smuggle it in, i.e. read that as the border guards cost more to bribe or there are more of them that need to be bribed--everyone has their price. The U.S. is much more dependent on Mexica than on Canada. Canada and Mexico should coordinate, as should the Caribbean countries, the Europeans, and other countries that won't suffer a military strike or be hurt too much by threatened economic sanctions.

When will the mainstream media ever pull their heads out of their butts and get behind the marjuana reform issue big time? Alcohol prohibition didn't get as long a pass as marijuana prohibition. What the hey! They have to give in and change the law if they seal up the borders but still can't stop millions of people from toking. That time is now. Enough is enough. Legalize it now!

reggie_the_dog

They ought to LEGALIZE production, sale, use, and possession of all drugs.

My right to use cannabis is a right I am born with, no one can take it away from me aside from my parents(who can choose to a certain extent the rights I have while under their care).

As an adult no one has the legal or moral authority to tell me not to hurt myself, no one has any right to tell me I cannot risk my own life, no one even has the right to stop me from committing suicide (I am a free individual, not the serf of a king or a slave).

If I want to eat junk food until I am obese and die of heart disease, it is my right.

If I want to ride a motorcycle without a helmet or drive a car without a seat belt, its my right.

If I want to put a shotgun in my mouth and squeeze the trigger, its my right.

If I want to smoke a joint, its my right.

If I want to smoke crack, shoot heroin, smoke tobacco, drink alcohol, its my right.

Hell I can drink gasoline if I want to, seeing as MY HEALTH IS MY BUSINESS

Basically anything I can do to endanger my own health without endangering the health, well being, or property of another, is my right.

I have no soverign for I, like all other people born in free republics all around the world AM MY OWN SOVERIGN and no one can FORCE ME TO LIVE A HEALTHY RISK FREE LIFE SO LONG AS I DO NOT HARM, ENDANGER, OR DAMAGE/STEAL THE PROPERTY OF ANOTHER FREE SOVERIGN!

Tokamak

Amen to that!!!

Peace.

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Buzzby

In your perfect, free society, who covers the medical costs of the quadriplegic, totally paralyzed, cancer-ridden, and cirrhotic victims of their own stupidity? Or do we simply allow them to suffer the consequences and die if they can't pay their own way?


Under the current system, I (and all the other tax-payers) foot the bill. That harms me economically, effectively stealing my wealth.

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Plainsman1963

I'm getting to that point.

In my opinion, if they cannot pay for medical care or whatever, then the private sector (including churches) should be turned to for a helping hand.

If there is noone who will pony up, or can't pony up enough...Yeah, welcome to life.
There isn't a safety net that comes with it.

reggie_the_dog

who pays for people's cancer now? In France we all do, thats right every damn one of us. Health care is a right here, we all pay for it. Seeing as disease can strike any of us we all pay, if we are lucky enough to not get sick, well we do not get sick.

Other examples,

1 motorcyclist with a helmet is in an accident, gets paralyzed but does not die,
2. motorcyclist with no helmet in simillar accident dies.

now in case 1 we as a society pay more for the hospital bills, and in case 2 we pay more in public aid (if the deceased is the breadwinner of a family)

why do we all pay in france???

1. As a breadwinner it is possible that I will be killed in an auto accident (with my seatbelt on, its always on when i am in a car), or a terrorist attack, or lightning striking me as I walk home from the train. Seeing as I wish for my family to be cared for in such an unfortuante event I (as well as all other French) pay taxes to help the less fortunate.

2. Disease can strike even healthy people, I am fit as can be, but what if I develop MS or Parkinsons one day??? Seeing as i (and the vast majority of French folks) know that health care is a right we pay for everyone else's health care. Seeing as we all pay for each other, we also make sure that we have a good quality/price ratio. (Basically health care here is on par with top quality health care in the USA, the difference here is that the top quality care is available for everyone. For full coverage my wife and I pay a combined (as of Sept. 2006) 95 euros per month for full health insurance.)


Also it is already legal to ski the double black diamond run, eat a shitload of pizza and drink until ones liver is a rock, so yes, I do already pay for people who are sick because of their own "sloth" if you will, but hey, health care is a right, and I do not envy their illness/injuries so I will glady pay more in taxes to help them get well at the same time that I do all I can to stay well.

Sec

If I remember right 1 euro = 2 USD correct?

If that is true, I am paying that much ($185 USD) for coverage for myself only, (no family or spouse). That is for medical, no dental, no optical, 80% outpatient/clinical with a $25 co-pay, 85% hospital stay, $1500 yearly deductible.

Count yourself lucky Reggie.

Those of you who think that liability on the old jalopy is enough, a single ride to the hospital (trauma center) in an ambulance (in our area) is $1200. That is just to get into the ER. Costs the same if you were hit by a gang or overdosed and needed the ride to the ER.

Do a few ride-alongs with a cop or ambulance if you think you have the right to destroy your body as you see fit. You won't be left to rot on the sidewalk or in your apartment. Someone else has to come and clean the mess you used to call a body and pay for the clean up.

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Lothar121

In America we already pay for other people's bad habits. It is reflected in insurance costs. Correct me if I'm wrong

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Jibber420

Buzzby, look at it this way. If all was legal, think if the billions of dollars we'd be saving from not having to incarcerate people for possession, etc. It's a known fact and I know you'd agree with me that we waste billions of dollars on the drug war. I would bet that the end cost of people needing medicare from drugs would not even come close to the amount of money the American government pisses away on this stupid drug war.

Just imagine how wonderful it would be if our own government who is supposed to be looking out for us would spend their money on medicare to actually help people instead of wasting billions of dollars chasing people who are just trying to live their lives freely. yeah right...keep dreaming.

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