Mexico to decriminalize pot, cocaine and heroin

[deep]

Welll, they missed sping break,

I am making my plans for Memorial Day weekend

Mexico to decriminalize pot, cocaine and heroin

By Noel Randewich1 hour, 29 minutes ago

Possessing marijuana, cocaine and even heroin will no longer be a crime in Mexico if the drugs are carried in small amounts for personal use, under legislation passed by Congress.

The measure given final passage by senators in a late night session on Thursday allows police to focus on their battle against major drug dealers, the government says, and President Vicente Fox is expected to sign it into law.

"This law provides more judicial tools for authorities to fight crime," presidential spokesman Ruben Aguilar said on Friday. The measure was approved earlier by the lower house.

Under the legislation, police will not penalize people for possessing up to 5 grams of marijuana, 5 grams of opium, 25 milligrams of heroin or 500 milligrams of cocaine.

People caught with larger quantities of drugs will be treated as narcotics dealers and face increased jail terms under the plan.

The legal changes will also decriminalize the possession of limited quantities of other drugs, including LSD, hallucinogenic mushrooms, amphetamines and peyote -- a psychotropic cactus found in Mexico's northern deserts.

The legislation came as a surprise to Washington, which counts on Mexico's support in its war against drug smuggling gangs who move massive quantities of cocaine, heroin, marijuana and methamphetamines through Mexico to U.S. consumers.

A delegation from the U.S. House of Representatives visited Mexico last week and met with senior officials to discuss drug control issues, but was told nothing of the planned legislative changes, said Michelle Gress, a House subcommittee counsel who was part of the visiting team.

"We were not informed," she told Reuters.

HARDENED CRIMINALS

Hundreds of people, including many police officers, have been killed in Mexico in the past year as drug cartels battle for control of lucrative smuggling routes into the United States.

The violence has raged mostly in northern Mexico but in recent months has spread south to cities like vacation resort Acapulco.

Under current law, it is up to local judges and police to decide on a case-by-case basis whether people should be prosecuted for possessing small quantities of drugs, a source at the Senate's health commission told Reuters.

"The object of this law is to not put consumers in jail, but rather those who sell and poison," said Sen. Jorge Zermeno of the ruling National Action Party.

Fifty-three senators voted for the bill with 26 votes against.

Hector Michel Camarena, an opposition senator from the Institutional Revolutionary Party, warned that although well intentioned, the law may go too far.

"There are serious questions we have to carefully analyze so that through our spirit of fighting drug dealing, we don't end up legalizing," he said. "We have to get rid of the concept of the (drug) consumer."

 

[A_Wanderer]

Why punish people for controling their minds?

 

[indra]

 

[BVS]

Maybe now the US will be immigrating there.

 

[verte76]

That's cool. I personally don't smoke pot because I don't like it, but I see nothing wrong with the occasional Saturday night pot party. It's the dealers I don't like.

 

[nbcrusader]

Maybe now the US will be immigrating there.

Fair trade

 

[BorderGirl]

Whatever it takes to make them forget about the fact that their corrupt country is driving them to leave their homeland and migrate to America and beyond.

 

[Irvine511]

[q]Mexico to Allow Use of Drugs
Fox will sign the bill, one of the world's most permissive policies, in a bid to curb trafficking. U.S. officials say it will lead to more addiction.
By Sam Enriquez, Times Staff Writer
May 3, 2006


MEXICO CITY — Mexican President Vicente Fox will sign a bill that would legalize the use of nearly every drug and narcotic sold by the same Mexican cartels he's vowed to fight during his five years in office, a spokesman said Tuesday.

The list of illegal drugs approved for personal consumption by Mexico's Congress last week is enough to make one dizzy — or worse.

ADVERTISEMENT
Cocaine. Heroin. LSD. Marijuana. PCP. Opium. Synthetic opiates. Mescaline. Peyote. Psilocybin mushrooms. Amphetamines. Methamphetamines.

And the per-person amounts approved for possession by anyone 18 or older could easily turn any college party into an all-nighter: half a gram of coke, a couple of Ecstasy pills, several doses of LSD, a few marijuana joints, a spoonful of heroin, 5 grams of opium and more than 2 pounds of peyote, the hallucinogenic cactus.

The law would be among the most permissive in the world, putting Mexico in the company of the Netherlands. Critics, including U.S. drug policy officials, already are worrying that it will spur a domestic addiction problem and make Mexico a narco-tourism destination.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-legalize3may03,0,5634216.story?track=tothtml

[/q]


book your flight here:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Flights-g150768-Mexico-Cheap_Discount_Airfares.html

 

[U2democrat]

Sounds like a grand ol time to me

 

[Justin24]

Well the drug war was a stupid idea in the first place. Second I am anti-drug. Would allowing use of drugs in small amounts really help. Especially if it's cocaine?

I don't see to much harm with Marajuana, but to allow small doses of cocaine is a bad idea. It will make people wan't more causing many OD deaths.

I wonder if Mexico would tax the drugs to make profit and go into business with the dealers or would they grow their own supply?

 

[the iron horse]

I believe all of these drugs should be legal in the U.S.

They all were before the Federal gorvernment started banning in the early 20th century.

I am a Christian and I believe that God created everything, including these drugs, for a reason.

Both my parents died of cancer and morphine helped them cope with the pain.


It's worth noting that all plant-based drugs have a true medicinal purpose, but man-creatred drugs like Meth-A cause the most harm and seem so hideously addictive and destructive.

I do not use these drugs, nor do I recommend them to others, but I think it would be better if we focused more on the reason some choose to use these drugs for recreational purposes, than simply put people in jail.

Personal responsiblity is what ,I think, we should be focusing on.


I vote Libertarian and will continue to do so.

The two major political parties in the U.S. continue to erode our personal freedoms and inflict more restrictive control over our lives.


There's a better way.

 

[financeguy]

^ Well said, iron horse


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,6-2163858,00.html

"Criminals have merely filled the niche so thoughtfully created for them by politicians. Before the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 we treated addiction as an illness. Heroin addicts got their fix on prescription. After 1971 we handed them over to unscrupulous gangs who had every incentive to expand the market. Like any savvy marketeer, they have offered free samples to children, given discounts for trading up to harder substances and created a generation of desperate salespeople. Junkies, forced to turn to crime to fund their habit by prices that can be as much as 2,000 per cent above the wholesale price, have had every incentive to become pushers themselves. The result? Our laws have created the most effective pyramid-selling scheme in history: one that has turned between 6,000 and 15,000 addicts into closer to 250,000, in only 30 years. Pass it on, pass it on.

Something similar happened under Prohibition. The ban on liquor sent alcohol prices soaring, increased the number of hard drinkers and spawned an entirely new criminal class of bootleg suppliers and corrupt police. Do not underestimate just how corrupting this new form of Prohibition is, or how widespread the corruption. Take the drug problem in prisons. Visitors are proudly shown how post is screened for narcotics, and told about random tests, strip searches and sniffer dogs. Many conclude that the only way so many drugs can still circulate in jails is with the connivance of prison officers. Add to this the fact that random drug tests tend to push inmates into replacing cannabis, which stays in the body for weeks, with heroin or opiates, which can be sweated out in the gym overnight, and it is hardly surprising that our jails have become part of the pyramid. In whose interest is that, except those who make higher margins on harder stuff?

More than half of American prisoners are in jail for drug-related offences. They outnumber the entire European prison population. Nearly half of all women in British prisons, and 17 per cent of men, are there for drug crimes. The numbers just keep growing. More than half of the women have a child under 16, two thirds have a drug problem and many are suicidal. Most need treatment, not punishment. But more than 40 per cent of prisoners with drug problems who want treatment are not receiving it, according to the Prison Reform Trust. Where methadone is being prescribed — a success that Government is shy to talk about — crime is falling. But for those on the new drug treatment and testing orders, reconviction rates are running at 80 per cent. We are spending a fortune to get nowhere. "

 

[Angela Harlem]

It's worth noting that all plant-based drugs have a true medicinal purpose, but man-creatred drugs like Meth-A cause the most harm and seem so hideously addictive and destructive.

And yet you want them decriminalised. Meth Amphetamines are a great example of why drugs need to eradicated. Open market for these will see an increase in violence and addiction. Are you familiar with the effects of Ice etc? I am fully aware of just how near impossible it is to stem and control drug use in the community, but the effects of drug taking are not to be ignored. These near pure man-made drugs are so incredibly dangerous. God didn't create them and personal freedom is not strong enough to keep a tight enough and safe rein on them.

Liberties Schmiberties.

 

[indra]

I believe all of these drugs should be legal in the U.S.

They all were before the Federal gorvernment started banning in the early 20th century.

I am a Christian and I believe that God created everything, including these drugs, for a reason.

Both my parents died of cancer and morphine helped them cope with the pain.


It's worth noting that all plant-based drugs have a true medicinal purpose, but man-creatred drugs like Meth-A cause the most harm and seem so hideously addictive and destructive.

I do not use these drugs, nor do I recommend them to others, but I think it would be better if we focused more on the reason some choose to use these drugs for recreational purposes, than simply put people in jail.

Personal responsiblity is what ,I think, we should be focusing on.


I vote Libertarian and will continue to do so.

The two major political parties in the U.S. continue to erode our personal freedoms and inflict more restrictive control over our lives.


There's a better way.

I think this might be the first time I have ever agreed with a post of yours in it's entirety (well, except the Christian part -- not to say you aren't, but I'm not -- and maybe the God made everything part -- on that, well I don't know).

But well said. I think the criminalisation of these drugs is far more problematic than the drugs themselves. Just because a drug can be addictive and destructive is not a reason to make it illegal.

If we made anything potentially addictive and destructive illegal, we wouldn't be conversing on this very board.

 

[BVS]

If we made anything potentially addictive and destructive illegal, we wouldn't be conversing on this very board.

Wow, how fucking true!!!

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

arriba!

 

[sharky]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/05/03/mexico.drugs.ap/index.html

Seems Fox didn't sign the bill after all under pressure from the U.S. I dunno -- I think there is a difference between things like pot and crack. Perhaps the U.S. should relax its laws a bit when it comes to pot considering it can and has been used for medicinal purposes and frankly, doesn't seem as addictive as even alcohol in many cases. Am I wrong about this?

 

[A_Wanderer]

It causes a degree of harm, but inidividuals should make their own choices in what they use to alter their minds.

 

[nbcrusader]

It causes a degree of harm, but inidividuals should make their own choices in what they use to alter their minds.

That makes sense to the extent an individual lives as such - by themselves. As a member of society, we all pay a price for such individual expression.

 

[financeguy]

As a member of society, we all pay a price for such individual expression.

As members of society, we all pay a price for the 'war on drugs' (cost of prisons etc).