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Mexico Legalizes Personal Possession of MJ, coke, meth, LSD etc.

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout: Debate & Discussion' started by glynch, Aug 21, 2009.

  1. glynch

    glynch Contributing Member

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    Can a sensible policy like this be put off for long in our country? We can use the money saved with arrest, legal procedures and incarceration and use it toward health care.

    Mexico Legalizes Drug Possession

    Published: August 21, 2009
    MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico enacted a controversial law on Thursday decriminalizing possession of small amounts of mar1juana, cocaine, heroin and other drugs while encouraging government-financed treatment for drug dependency free of charge.

    The law sets out maximum “personal use” amounts for drugs, also including LSD and methamphetamine. People detained with those quantities will no longer face criminal prosecution; the law goes into effect on Friday.

    Anyone caught with drug amounts under the personal-use limit will be encouraged to seek treatment, and for those caught a third time treatment is mandatory — although no penalties for noncompliance are specified.

    Mexican authorities said the change only recognized the longstanding practice here of not prosecuting people caught with small amounts of drugs.

    The maximum amount of mar1juana considered to be for “personal use” under the new law is 5 grams — the equivalent of about four mar1juana cigarettes. Other limits are half a gram of cocaine, 50 milligrams of heroin, 40 milligrams for methamphetamine and 0.015 milligrams of LSD.

    President Felipe Calderón waited months before approving the law.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/21/world/americas/21mexico.html?_r=1
     
  2. The_Yoyo

    The_Yoyo Contributing Member

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    hmmm

    how soon till andymoon moves down there? ;)
     
  3. GladiatoRowdy

    GladiatoRowdy Contributing Member

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    If my fight about regulation were about me being able to use a drug, I would have moved to Alaska a LONG time ago (years ago, the AKSC recognized much higher limits than the five grams Mexico just codified as "personal use" and protected AK residents based on their constitution's privacy clause).

    On this law, it may be a case of one step forward, two steps back as another provision gives the police the power to make drug buys for the purposes of making a case and also allows local police to target small time dealers. We will see what effects this law has once it really gets teeth in a year (full enforcement has been delayed to allow localities the time to change their laws), but it would be difficult to imagine a worse situation than the one they have now. Thousands of people die each year in Mexico from violence related to the drug traffic and some cities resemble military zones since the army has been called down to augment or replace police forces.
     
  4. VooDooPope

    VooDooPope Love > Hate
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    makes sense to me... too bad our government is too busy trying to control every aspect of our lives to give us any personal freedoms.
     
  5. rhino17

    rhino17 Member

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    so you are in favor of decriminalizing heroine, cocaine, and meth?

    ok buddy :rolleyes:
     
  6. GladiatoRowdy

    GladiatoRowdy Contributing Member

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    Latin America: Mexican Drug War Update

    http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/598/mexico_drug_war_update

    by Bernd Debusmann, Jr.

    Mexican drug trafficking organizations make billions each year trafficking illegal drugs into the United States, profiting enormously from the prohibitionist drug policies of the US government. Since Mexican president Felipe Calderon took office in December 2006 and called the armed forces into the fight against the so-called cartels, prohibition-related violence has killed over 12,000 people, with a death toll of over 4,000 so far in 2009. The increasing militarization of the drug war and the arrest of several high- profile drug traffickers have failed to stem the flow of drugs -- or the violence -- whatsoever. The Merida initiative, which provides $1.4 billion over three years for the US to assist the Mexican government with training, equipment and intelligence, has so far failed to make a difference. Here are a few of the latest developments in Mexico's drug war:

    Wednesday, August 12:
    -Four People , including a serving member of the US Army and a 16-year old boy, were arrested this week in the May 15 slaying of a Juarez cartel lieutenant and government informant. The men were apparently paid some $10,000 dollars to participate in the assassination of Jose Daniel Gonzalez Galeana.

    Friday, August 14:
    -19 people were killed and 20 wounded in a prison fight in Durango. Many of the victims were killed by bullets from firearms that had been smuggled into the prison. Reports indicate that the clash may have been a "dispute for dominance" among inmates incarcerated on organized crime and drug trafficking charges.

    Saturday, August 15:
    -In Monclova, Coahuila, three bodyguards were killed during an attack on an ex-general who serves as police chief. Gunmen in pickup trucks attacked Monclova police chief Juan Carlos Pacheco as he headed home Friday evening. Pacheco was unharmed in the attack.

    -In the state of Mexico (which surrounds most of Mexico City), federal police apprehended Héctor Manuel Oyarzabal Hernández, reportedly a high-ranking member of La Familia. Oyarzabal reportedly handled drug-trafficking in the cities of Ixtapaluca, Chalco, Valle de Chalco and Ozumba, all of which are in the greater Mexico City metropolitan area. Seven other men were arrested alongside him, along with several automatic weapons, two motorcycles, three SUVs and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. The Mexican government had increased operations against La Familia since the July 13 discovery of 12 federal police officers killed by the organization.

    -Carlos Ocaranza, a musician who specialized in narco-corridos (ballads that glorify the deeds of drug traffickers), was shot dead as he left a concert in Guadalajara. The attack also killed his manager, who succumbed to his wounds on Monday. Ocaranza was also known as "Crazy Elizalde", a reference to his distant relative Valentin Elizalde, an extremely popular musician who was murdered in 2006.

    Sunday, August 16:
    -Hundreds of Mexican customs officials working at airports and border crossings were replaced by the Mexican government. The operation was aimed at rooting out corrupt inspectors who facilitate the flow of drugs, arms and money into and out of Mexico. Reforma reported that 1,100 officers were ousted, to be replaced by new personnel that had undergone extra training and background checks. The ousted officers were not fired. Instead, their contracts were not renewed. This is part of a larger effort on the part of the Calderon government to fight corruption in Mexico. In the past, entire police departments were replaced by military personnel, and politicians with alleged ties to drug cartels and other organized criminal networks have been arrested.

    Monday, August 17:
    - 33 people were killed in drug related violence across northern Mexico on Sunday and Monday. In Ciudad Juarez, eight people were killed when gunmen burst into a bar and shot dead the owner, his wife, and six customers. Two other males, aged 20 and 25, were killed in the center of Ciudad Juarez in the afternoon. In the town of Praxedis (36 miles from Ciudad Juarez), heavily armed gunmen in black uniforms assaulted a house, killing six. Several other killings were reported in different parts of Chihuahua, of which Ciudad Juarez is the capital. Additionally, four people were killed during a two-hour firefight with police and military elements in the northern province of Nuevo Leon.
    -In the resort town of Cozumel, suspected cartel assassins killed four men. The bodies, which showed signs of torture, were found in a car. Cozumel, which is roughly 12 miles from the mainland, has seen very little drug-related violence in recent years.

    Tuesday, August 18:
    -A father and his four-year old son were killed after being attacked by gunmen as they drove on a highway near Ciudad Juarez. The mother was wounded and taken to the hospital. Later on Tuesday, several banners appeared in Ciudad Juarez denying that cartels were responsible for civilian deaths. In neighboring Coahuila state, gunmen attacked the offices of the Siglo de Torreon newspaper. Nobody was injured in the attack.
    -American investigators announced on Tuesday that they believe that the recent wildfire in Santa Barbara, California was started by mar1juana growers with possible connections to Mexican drug cartels. A cooking device left at one of the grow-ops was found to be the cause of the flame. Additionally, 30,000 mar1juana plants and an AK-47 rifle were found near the origin of the blaze in Los Padres National Forest. US Forest Service Special Agent Russ Arthur said that although this is the first large wildfire known to have been caused by mar1juana grow-ops, they do cause, on average, three to four smaller fires in California each year.

    Total reported body count for the last week: 219
    Total reported body count for the year: 4,432
     
  7. RedRedemption

    RedRedemption Contributing Member

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    I say if people wanna kill themselves. Sure, go ahead.
    People should have a choice.
    Then well all the dumb***** die off, world domination.
     
  8. GladiatoRowdy

    GladiatoRowdy Contributing Member

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    Are you the one who made a similar statement in the last thread about drug prohibition and then left without continuing the discussion once it looked like you were in WAY over your head?

    ok buddy :rolleyes:
     
  9. rhino17

    rhino17 Member

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    i havn't posted in the D&D in weeks, idk what thread you are even talking about

    I don't think it is a crazy thing to say that I do not want Coke, Meth, and heroin legal in America. But maybe I'm crazy :rolleyes:
     
  10. LScolaDominates

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    If you were crazy (i.e. mentally ill), do you think you should go to jail for it? If not, why should drug addicts be treated differently?
     
  11. rhino17

    rhino17 Member

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    drug addiction is not a disease, its an addiction that you started yourself. If you **** your life up, you have no one to blame but yourself.
     
  12. B-Bob

    B-Bob "94-year-old self-described dreamer"

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    I am pro-legalization of pot and maybe LSD. Meth seems like a stupid thing to legalize.

    All that aside, can anyone explain to me how this new law helps? If I'm a drug dealer, my potential market just grew. Now all sorts of fence-sitting types will say "hey, I can't get arrested for driving around with a little weed in my glove compartment anymore. Let's go get some."

    Meanwhile, it's not legal to sell or traffic. So it's still going to be a premium priced product, high on profit, violence and risk. There's just going to be more demand.

    Or am I missing something ???

    Don't you have to legalize the sale of a product before there is a normal competition and prices comes down, profits go down, and thugs go elsewhere?
     
  13. LScolaDominates

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    Do you consider schizophrenia a disease?
     
  14. rhino17

    rhino17 Member

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    considering schizophrenia is not something someone choses, absolutely
     
  15. LScolaDominates

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    Decriminalizing possession is more about managing the risks of drug use itself rather than addressing the harms of the larger drug war. There's nothing to be gained from throwing drug users in jail, execpt perhaps a deterrant.

    But, think about it: who are you deterring by criminalizing drug use? Not the addicts. They'll go through all sorts of hell to get their fix. It's the casual users who might think twice about using if they think they might get thrown in jail for it. Ironically, it's those same casual users that are able to handle recreational substances responsibly. So, again, I have to ask what is gained by punishing people who just want to get a little high every once in a while?
     
  16. LScolaDominates

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    You think people choose to be drug addicts?
     
  17. rhino17

    rhino17 Member

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    is someone else forcing heroine into them?
     
  18. ryan_98

    ryan_98 Contributing Member
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    do you consider alcoholism a disease or addiction?
     
  19. rhino17

    rhino17 Member

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    addiction
     
  20. BleedRocketsRed

    BleedRocketsRed Contributing Member

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    Not somebody else, everybody else. Social circumstances. Those kind of drugs are things people tend to fall into (never done heroine or meth, just saying in general).
     

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