NEWS: Mexico FAILS to legalize drugs

[lemonboy]

I had hope that we might have an ally here in North America when I first started reading about this and it was shattered little over an hour ago. I guess Mexican President Vicente Fox has broken under US pressure (http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/state/14492716.htm). It is sad that the Mexican people do not have legitimate leadership on an issue that has perpetually crippled their great people.


By Frank Jack Daniel

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) (http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyid=2006-05-04T025451Z_01_N03199061_RTRUKOC_0_US-MEXICO-DRUGS.xml) - In a surprise reversal, Mexican President Vicente Fox will not sign a widely criticized reform to decriminalize the possession of small quantities of marijuana, cocaine and heroin, his office said on Wednesday.

The president's office said the law, which also toughened sentences for dealing and holding larger amounts of the intoxicants, would be sent back to Congress for revision.

"In our country the possession of drugs and their consumption are, and will continue to be, crimes," the office said in a statement.

Fox's decision was unexpected, given that the legislation was initially designed by his office and introduced by his party. This week, his spokesman praised the law and insisted the president would quickly sign it, despite rumblings from a shocked Washington.

Mexico argued that the measure set out clearer rules to deal with drug crime, toughened sentences and closed loop-holes. Under present law courts decide on a case-by-case basis whether to act against people who hold drugs.

But the bill allowed for the possession of up to 5 grams (0.18 ounces) of marijuana, 5 grams (0.18 ounces) of opium, 25 milligrams (0.0009 ounces) of heroin and 500 milligrams (0.018 ounces) of cocaine.

It also decriminalized the possession of limited quantities of other drugs, including LSD, hallucinogenic mushrooms, amphetamines and peyote -- a psychotropic cactus found in the Mexican deserts.

Critics, including politicians on both sides of the border, said relaxing the rules so much would attract drug users to Mexico from around the world and complicate its drug war.

Congress passed the legislation last week, dismaying Washington, which counts on its southern neighbor's support in a war against gangs that move massive quantities of cocaine, heroin, marijuana and methamphetamines through Mexico to U.S. consumers.

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

The violence has raged mostly in northern Mexico, but in recent months has spread south to Pacific coast resorts like Acapulco.

Beleaguered police in the crime-racked Mexican border region warned that the legalization law would make its already chaotic cities rowdier and more unruly. And authorities tourist towns feared the reforms would attract a flood of hard-partying U.S. thrill seekers.

[lemonboy]

This is actually where I meant it to go anyway. Many thanks for the move :P

[Fabolous]

huh, i though Mexico already had weed legalize

[eg420ne]

Whos Mexicos Big Brother cant be U.S...If the U.S. has pull like that in mexico what the fuk are they letting this open border and the chaos its bringing get out of control....

[Myth1184]

Dude your an idiot for saying that Drugs being illegal is ruining the people of Mexico..if it was made LEGAL, then the people of Mexico will be doomed to failure.

You guys, if you ever gona see weed legalized, need to get off the "i wana do whatever drugs i wana and not get in trouble for it" bandwagon, and actually start doing stuff that will change the minds of people that say it should stay illegal.

[robert42]

MEXICO CITY - Mexican President Vicente Fox backed off signing a drug decriminalization bill that the United States warned could result in "drug tourism" and increased availability of narcotics in American border communities.

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Fox reversed course Wednesday and said he was sending the bill back to Congress for changes, just one day after his office had said he would sign it into law. The measure would have dropped criminal penalties for possession of small amounts of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and other drugs.

Fox's statement said he will ask for corrections "to make it absolutely clear in our country, the possession of drugs and their consumption are, and will continue to be, a criminal offense."

San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders applauded Fox's decision. On Friday, Sanders said he was "appalled" by the bill, saying it could increase drug availability north of the border.

"I'm glad that he's listened to the many voices opposing the bill and made changes that will make good enforcement and not legalize drugs," Sanders said. "We have been a partner with Mexico in fighting against illegal drugs, and this will only help in the long-term in that relationship."

San Diego sits a short drive from the border town of Tijuana.

Earlier Wednesday, U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Judith Bryan said U.S. officials had "urged Mexican representatives to review the legislation urgently to avoid the perception that drug use would be tolerated in Mexico, and to prevent drug tourism."

That was apparently a reference to concern that the measure could increase drug use by border visitors and U.S. students who flock to Mexico on vacation.

Bryan said the U.S. government wants Mexico "to ensure that all persons found in possession of any quantity of illegal drugs be prosecuted or be sent into mandatory drug treatment programs."

Fox's statement did not mention the U.S. criticism, but did acknowledge that the bill had been controversial.

"With sensitivity toward the opinions expressed by various sectors of society, the administration has decided to suggest changes to the content of the bill," the statement said.

On Tuesday, Fox's spokesman had called the bill "an advance" and pledged the president would sign it.

Mexico's Congress has adjourned for the summer, and when it comes back, it will have an entirely new lower house and one-third new Senate members following the July 2 elections, which will also make Fox a lame duck.

However, Sen. Jorge Zermeno, of Fox's conservative National Action Party â?? a supporter of the bill â?? said he thought Congress would be open to changing the legislation to delete a clause that extends to all "consumers" the exemption from prosecution that was originally meant to cover only recognized drug addicts.

"The word 'consumer' can be eliminated so that the only exemption clause would be for drug addicts," Zermeno told The Associated Press. "There's still time to get this through."

The bill contained many points that experts said were positive. It empowered state and local police â?? not just federal officers â?? to go after drug dealers, stiffened some penalties and closed loopholes that dealers had long used to escape prosecution.

But Mexico's top police official, Eduardo Medina Mora said legislators had changed Fox's original proposal by inserting a controversial table laying out maximum amounts of drugs considered for "personal use."

Current Mexican law allows judges latitude to drop charges if suspects can prove they are addicts and the quantity they were caught with is small enough to be considered "for personal use," or if they are first-time offenders.

The new bill would have made the decriminalization automatic, allowed "consumers" as well as addicts to have drugs, and delineated specific allowable quantities, which do not appear in the current law.

Under the law, consumers could have legally possessed up to 25 milligrams of heroin, 5 grams of marijuana (about one-fifth of an ounce, or about four joints), or 0.5 grams of cocaine â?? the equivalent of about four "lines."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060504/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/mexico_decriminalizing_drugs

[darkside]

mexico just bent over and took a big DEA dick in its ass.

[Euphoric]

mexico fcking sucks

look at it this way, now suddenly all over the news in theworld there is the phrase "legalizing drugs"
Its a step.

[lemonboy]

Dude your an idiot for saying that Drugs being illegal is ruining the people of Mexico..if it was made LEGAL, then the people of Mexico will be doomed to failure.

You guys, if you ever gona see weed legalized, need to get off the "i wana do whatever drugs i wana and not get in trouble for it" bandwagon, and actually start doing stuff that will change the minds of people that say it should stay illegal.Because violent Mexican drug cartels are a good thing?

Take the time to read the data involved and make a rational connection between prohibition and the record profits these criminals continue to rake in year after year. "Drugs are bad" isn't a policy, Mrs. Reagan, and to continue putting drug users in jail has never worked and never will.

I want to live in a country where I don't see 10 police cars on my way to and from work. Is that really too much to ask?

[jamstigator]

It might not have been U.S. pressure that changed the president's view. Perhaps the drug cartels offered to reduce the number of his living friends by making them dead friends. After all, there's not much money to be made off LEGAL drugs. Keeping them illegal is where the moolah is. The same is true in the U.S., of course.