April 28, 2006, 1:23PM Mexico set to decriminalize pot, cocaine Reuters News Service MEXICO CITY - Possessing mar1juana, 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 Mexican Congress. The measure given final passage by senators late 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 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 mar1juana, 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. 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, mar1juana 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.
Nice. Even Mexico is about to be a more progressive and freer country than the United States of America. Maybe OUR politicians will wake up someday.
so they say you can't process it in large quanities. who processes their own coke or heroin for personal use?
this news is really tripped out. is it me or is this out of left field. as bad as crime related to drug trafficing is in the u.s., it much worse in mexico. but still, I had no idea this was coming.
That is an okay first step. We really need to stop getting so hung up on what people put into their own body.
how many joints in 5 grams? depending on the size, 10 to 15 I guess the next time we go to Mexico the onslaught of children selling sh*t to tourists to support their families will now be sporting 10-15 Js in a baggy. I have made a bit of light in this thread, but legalizing small amounts of cocaine and opium, and heroin can NOT be a good thing.
Tripped me out as well, doesn't seem right, it makes no sense legalizing all those hard drugs, mar1juana? MIGHT be ok, but cocaine, heroine and all that other stuff? Mexico will not be a some what safe place to visit anymore, that's for sure, at least not the big cities.
It doesn't make a lot of sense to me to legal possession of small amounts and not legalize dealers. You know everyone who has small amounts got the drugs from a dealer in possession of an illegal amount. This just seems to shore up the demand side of the drug equation by removing an impediment to buying. If they had legalized and regulated dealing, then I can see how you could make an argument that they're cutting the market out from under the violent drug cartels by shifting the buyers to legal, legitimate businesses. But, they haven't done that; the cartels will be as violent as ever, and now their customers can buy with no fear of prosecution. Progressive? Hardly.
So, let's say you and your wife and 3 kids are driving in Mexico. Some guy that just did heroin is drivng in the opposite direction plows into your car killing your wife and 3 kids and leaves you a paraplegic. Yeah, who cares what other people put in their bodies. Drug should be illegal no matter the quantity. Alcohol is bad enough, but to legalize drugs is pouring salt in the wound.
