Thread: MEX pres. proposes legalizing pot and cocaine.

MEXICO CITY — President Felipe Calderón, who has made fighting drug traffickers the centerpiece of his administration, proposed legislation on Thursday that would decriminalize the possession of small quantities of cocaine and other drugs for addicts who agreed to undergo treatment.

Mr. Calderón said that the proposal was intended to attack the growing problem of drug addiction in Mexico. Still, it will probably be controversial both at home and abroad. A similar measure two years ago provoked strong opposition from the United States and was eventually dropped.

A recent government survey found that the number of drug addicts in Mexico had almost doubled in the past six years to 307,000, while the number of those who had tried drugs rose to 4.5 million from 3.5 million.

Drugs used to flow through Mexico to the United States, and they still do, but an increasing amount of those narcotics now stays in Mexico to feed the habits of domestic consumers.

Under Mr. Calderón’s proposal, Mexican authorities would not prosecute people found to be carrying small amounts of drugs if they declared they were addicts and submitted to a treatment program.

Those who are not addicts could avoid prosecution by entering a prevention program. Fines could be imposed for those who declined to enter such programs.

The new legislation caps the quantities that would not be subject to prosecution at 50 milligrams of heroin, 2 grams of marijuana, 500 milligrams of cocaine and 40 milligrams of methamphetamine.

The Mexican attorney general’s office has said that it is so overwhelmed with prosecuting organized crime that it cannot handle the large number of small-time drug cases.

The measure is reminiscent of a proposal that passed the Mexican Congress two years ago but never took effect. It decriminalized possession of small amounts of drugs for people who could convince a judge that they were addicts.

That law, which did not require treatment for those found with drugs, provoked an uproar among United States officials, some of whom raised the image of Americans going to Mexico to enjoy legal drugs.

Under intense lobbying from the United States, Vicente Fox, the president at the time, asked Congress to amend the law and the measure was dropped.

Responding to Mr. Calderón’s plan, American officials said Thursday that United States policy opposed the legalization of even small amounts of drugs. “It rewards the drug traffickers and doesn’t make children’s lives safer,â€

The enormous profits in drugs are from its criminality, criminals take over and share profits with corrupt politicians and police. Without those profits the violent criminal gangs would be forced out of the business due to their replacement by legitimate businesses able to operate on narrower margins.

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Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2008 3:41 pm
Post subject: Mexico seeks to legalize smalltime pot, cocaine use

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Mexico seeks to legalize smalltime pot, cocaine use

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican President Felipe Calderon, locked in a high-stakes battle with drug cartels, wants to legalize the possession of small amounts of cocaine and marijuana, a plan that will likely irk Washington.

Calderon, a conservative in power for nearly two years, sent a proposal to Congress that would also scrap penalties on carrying small amounts of heroin, methamphetamine and opium for personal use.

Reviving a similar push by his predecessor, Calderon's bill aims to free up police to hunt for narcotics dealers and smugglers, but it could meet opposition in largely conservative Mexico as well as in the neighboring United States.

"What we are seeking is to not treat an addict as a criminal, but rather as a sick person and give them psychological and medical treatment," said Sen. Alejandro Gonzalez, head of the Senate's justice committee.

Former president Vicente Fox tried to pass a similar bill in 2006 but ditched it after Washington objected and critics both sides of the border said laxer laws could lure "drug tourists" from north of the border.

Calderon's bill would mean people carrying up to 2 grams (0.07 ounces) of marijuana or opium, half a gram of cocaine, 50 milligrams of heroin or 40 milligrams of methamphetamine would not face criminal charges.

It would also give Mexican states the power to try drug dealers in local courts, rather than at a federal level.

Drug use is much less common among young people in Mexico than in the United States or Europe, but consumption is creeping up with the growth of the middle class and as tighter border controls mean more cocaine is kept back in the country.

Calderon has deployed thousands of troops to clamp down on the drug gangs that shuttle Colombian cocaine up and over Mexico's northern border.

But cartel violence has soared as a result, killing some 3,000 people this year, including eight that died in a grenade attack, the first major strike on the public by drug hitmen.

(Reporting by Miguel Angel Gutierrez)

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President Felipe Calderón, who has made fighting drug traffickers the centerpiece of his administration, proposed legislation on Thursday that would decriminalize the possession of small quantities of cocaine and other drugs for addicts who agreed to undergo treatment.

Can't beat em, join em, right Calderon? What a friggin joke of a President and his so-called country!