Thread: US 'wait-and-see' attitude on new Mexican drug law

US 'wait-and-see' attitude on new Mexican drug law

By MARK STEVENSON, The Associated Press
7:29 p.m. July 29, 2009

MEXICO CITY — U.S. drug czar Gil Kerlikowske says he will adopt a "wait-and-see attitude" on a new Mexican drug law that many see as effectively decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of drugs including marijuana, cocaine and heroin.

President Felipe Calderon has proposed requiring mandatory treatment for those caught with "personal-use" amounts of drugs.

But a bill approved by Mexico's Congress before it recessed in late April recommends voluntary treatment programs. Mandatory treatment would not kick in until a third offense.

"I guess if I was looking at it strictly from our viewpoint, the use of the government as a strong sanction is often pretty helpful in getting people into treatment," said Kerlikowske, who heads the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy. "If the sanction becomes completely nonexistent I think that would be a concern, but I actually didn't read quite that level of de-facto (decriminalization) in the law."

"I would actually give this a bit of a wait and see attitude," said Kerlikowske. "I've always found about laws, whether they've been enacted by states or our own federal government, is that it is the application and the use of the law and how it's actually done" are key.

Whether the law's proposed sanctions "are actually enough or not, I'm not sure," he said.

In 2006, the U.S. government publicly criticized a similar bill that then-President Vicente Fox had supported. Fox later backtracked under the pressure and asked Congress to reconsider the decriminalization provisions.

Calderon has not yet signed this year's bill, and administration officials won't say whether he plans to.

But if the president does not act by September, the bill could automatically become law, and opposition parties in Congress have enough votes to override any objections Calderon might make to the new law.

The bill would exempt from criminal prosecution those possessing five grams of marijuana, half a gram of cocaine or 50 milligrams of heroin.

Javier Oliva, a political scientist at Mexico's National Autonomous University, agreed the bill represented decriminalization and said it posed a serious contradiction for the Calderon administration. "Don't forget, Calderon has used the fight against drug trafficking as a banner," Oliva said.

Indeed, Mexico's Roman Catholic Church came out publicly against decriminalization laws after Congress passed its bill.

Raul Benitez, a professor of strategy studies at the National University, agreed the bill does constitute decriminalization, but said it is not out of step with some other major nations. "You fill up the jails with consumers," Benitez said, "but what we should be doing is making room in jail for the big leaders of the mafia."

Benitez said Calderon didn't like the bill, but would probably enact it.

"There are some very conservative sectors in his party who do not like it at all. But Calderon will approve it because he needs to build a consensus with the more liberal wing of his party and people in Mexico City, where he has almost no support."

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/ ... us-072909/

Maybe all of the U.S. drug addicts will move to Mexico now.

We could even help them out with free one way bus tickets to Mexico.

Then the Americans will come across the border with drugs. The cost of prison will be afforded by putting more American into jail coming from Mexico. This is what America and Mexico are gearing up for. Money for both: Mexico and Prisons in America via drugs in MEXICO.