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Fri 28 Apr, 2006 05:15 pm
Fri Apr 28, 2006 12:49pm ET
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Owning 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 the Congress.
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, under a bill passed by senators late on Thursday and earlier approved by the lower house.
People caught with larger quantities of drugs will be treated as narcotics dealers and face increased jail terms under the plan.
The government says the measure allows police to focus on major drug dealers, and President 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.
Hundreds of people including several police officers have been killed in the past year as drug cartels battle authorities and compete with each other for control of lucrative cocaine, marijuana and heroin smuggling routes from Mexico 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 it.
It would seem that Mexico is far more enlightened than the USA.
I don't think Mexico is more enlightened, but I do think it is more desperate. Drug trafficking in Mexico is big business and money can translate into political influence and power. The people who carry small amounts of marijuana or cocain don't raise it in small plots in their backyard or cook it up in their kitchen. They get it from suppliers who have a large amount on hand. Those people who were beyond the pale have now been moved into the gray area of quasi legality. The boundary previously clear cut is now becoming fuzzy.
Since most of those drugs are illegal here,how many American addicts will now move to Mexico and become their problem?
Maybe this is a good idea after all.
Walter Hinteler posted a good commentary here.
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