cannabisnews.com: Mexico's New Drug Law May Set an Example
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Mexico's New Drug Law May Set an Example
Posted by CN Staff on August 26, 2009 at 04:54:10 PT
By Ioan Grillo, Mexico City
Source: Time Magazine
Mexico -- No dreadlocked revelers smoked celebratory reefers in the streets, no armies of conservatives protested, the Mexican media raised no hullabaloo. Quietly and with little ado, Mexico last week enacted a law to decriminalize possession of small amounts of all major narcotics, including marijuana, cocaine, heroin, ecstasy and crystal meth. Anyone caught in Mexico with two or three joints or about four lines of cocaine can no longer be arrested, fined or imprisoned. However, police will give them the address of the nearest rehab clinic and advise them to get clean.
Most surprising was how easily and painlessly the reform slipped into Mexican law. The bill was originally filed in October by President Felipe Calderón, a social conservative who is waging a bloody military crackdown on drug cartels. Congress then approved the bill in April — as Mexico's swine-flu outbreak dominated media attention. And finally the law went into the books without any major protests either in Mexico or north of the border. See pictures of cannabis culture. -- http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1899641,00.htmlWashington's silence on the issue is telling. In 2006, Mexico's Congress approved a bill with almost exactly the same provisions. However, the Administration of George W. Bush immediately complained about the measure and then President Vicente Fox refused to sign it into law. In contrast, officials of the Obama Administration have been decidedly guarded in commenting on the new legislation. When asked about it in his visit to Mexico last month, drug czar Gil Kerlikowske said he would "wait and see." Many view such a change as evidence that Washington is finally reconsidering its confrontational war on drugs, four decades after Richard Nixon declared it. "There is a growing opinion that the use of force has simply failed to destroy the drug trade and other measures are needed," says Mexican political analyst José Antonio Crespo. "It appears that the White House may be starting to adjust its approach." See pictures of the great American pot smoke-out. -- http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1892924,00.htmlAnother reason for the ambivalence is that the new law is predicted to have little effect on the Mexican street. Police officers would rarely arrest people caught with small amounts of drugs anyway, although they would often use it as an opportunity to extract handsome bribes.Mexican officials argue the legislation is designed less to change the situation than to clarify the law and go after the traffickers harder. Indeed, while using small amounts of drugs may now be fine, selling drugs is still illegal. The law clearly states any person dealing narcotics will be sent to prison. Any place that sells drugs will be liable for punishment, a provision that is likely to prevent the opening of any Amsterdam-style "coffee shops" in the country. The new law also empowers city and state police to investigate dealers, which was formerly the reserve of the federales. Street-corner pushers have exploded across Mexico in recent years while the number of hard-drug addicts has shot up to 460,000, according to a survey last year.Still, groups pushing to legalize marijuana north of the Rio Grande see Mexico's change as an encouraging sign for their own struggle. Allen St. Pierre, head of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, says the Mexican law is part of changing global attitudes to the issue. "Cultural social norms are shifting around the world and in the United States. There will likely come a point when the majority see that prohibition is expensive and simply doesn't work," he says. St. Pierre points out that 13 U.S. states have already decriminalized marijuana and California has legalized it for limited medical use.Mexico's example could also influence other developing countries in their drug policies, St. Pierre says. "Governments seeing that Washington did not condemn Mexico for its law may be bolder in their own legislation. Countries are becoming aware that the United States with its millions of drug users should not be judging them on their policies," he says. In February, the former presidents of Brazil, Colombia and Mexico signed a statement calling for decriminalization of several narcotics. "Current drug-repression policies are firmly rooted in prejudices, fears and ideological visions," it said. (On Aug. 25, the Argentine supreme court essentially legalized the private use of small amounts of marijuana.)But some see the Mexican laws as a step back rather than forward. Critics in Mexico say that decriminalizing users but not sellers will only strengthen the trafficking mafias that are waging a bloody turf war in Mexico. More than 12,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence in the past three years. The cartels make an estimated $30 billion smuggling narcotics north to American users and some $5 billion more selling to the Mexican market. "It is illogical to have a law that allows drug consumption but does not control where it is coming from," says Representative Enrique Cardenas, who voted against the bill. "It will only fuel corruption and dealing."Source: Time Magazine (US)Author: Ioan Grillo, Mexico City Published: Wednesday, August 26, 2009Copyright: 2009 Time Inc.Contact: letters time.comWebsite: http://www.time.com/time/URL: http://drugsense.org/url/k1U85HKBCannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml
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Comment #25 posted by FoM on August 26, 2009 at 19:36:07 PT
rchandar
I'm sorry you are having computer problems. They sure aren't fun.I think Obama has and will focus on bigger issues that are important and let us get more laws passed state by state and maybe a little more. Maybe we might get somewhere with Barney Frank's Bill in the not to distant future.
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Comment #24 posted by rchandar on August 26, 2009 at 19:22:12 PT:
FoM
Or maybe you said it right, and I wasn't paying any attention because my server is basically crash-city and I rushed to read this important news. In all seriousness, I don't know how much social policy will be reflected by Obama's personality. He's a different man than Clinton was, and his approach could be measurably different. But if you see this--and you may have good reasons to (I watch CNN, and try to stay away from Fox)--happening, all the more power to you.I went to Mexico eight years ago. There were places where topics like weed were pretty relaxed, but definitely other places where it was verboten to even think such things. I've read a lot of books about Mexico: some, like Jack Kerouac, paint it as a pot paradise; others, like Ken Kesey and Bill Burroughs, feared and loathed it as an example of hopelessly distorted law enforcement practices.But the mountain has been climbed, the summit reached, and a range is visible across the way. Who knows, perhaps with Obama in the Oval Office we will have the courage to take on those mountains.--rchandar
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Comment #23 posted by MikeEEEEE on August 26, 2009 at 17:22:50 PT
Domino Effect
Watch for the momentum to increase.Job security is not found in drug prohibition. Just think how many more prison cells will be available for the real criminals.
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Comment #22 posted by FoM on August 26, 2009 at 16:35:47 PT
Hope
Obama doesn't seem to feed off hatred. He is one calm and easy going fellow. I don't listen to angry people and Obama is way calmer then me. Angry people don't usually have good ideas just a bunch of bluster.
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Comment #21 posted by FoM on August 26, 2009 at 16:33:16 PT
Hope
Thank you. I posted it. I didn't think we were allowed to use that paper. Onward thru the fog.
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Comment #20 posted by FoM on August 26, 2009 at 16:20:53 PT
rchandar
Maybe I didn't say it right. Maybe I should have said Obama is no Clinton. I didn't vote for Clinton.
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Comment #19 posted by Hope on August 26, 2009 at 15:53:54 PT
MEXICO, CALIFORNIA ARE LABORATORIES....
MEXICO, CALIFORNIA ARE LABORATORIES FOR NEW APPROACH The Arizona Republic in PhoenisAn Editorialhttp://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n815/a08.html?397
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Comment #18 posted by Hope on August 26, 2009 at 15:41:30 PT
Prohibitionist or "Preventionist" opinion
I think he will give them consideration. In the past, for many years, their opinion has been far more valued than ours. I hope he realizes they have been wrong and they have been wrong for a very long time. They really have taught hatred, war, arrogance, cruelty, harsh punishment, intolerance, and fear for a very long time. That can't be right.
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Comment #17 posted by rchandar on August 26, 2009 at 15:04:26 PT:
FoM
Not meaning to trash you in any way, and the comment makes the distinction. A lot of us were, however, arrested under Clinton--our first-time experience. It wasn't good, and a lot of people still bristle when they think of "Slick Willie."
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Comment #16 posted by rchandar on August 26, 2009 at 15:02:49 PT:
Mexico
It's a big victory for us, especially considering how strict and penal Mexico has always been. Now, last comment: come on. Clinton was a Drug Warrior from the beginning. He envisioned a society of "boot camps" to reform drug users. Anyone seen videos or been in such a place? That they deny people food and sometimes even torture them? We can at least "hope" that Obama will be more understanding, even if the current situation persists.--rchandar
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Comment #15 posted by FoM on August 26, 2009 at 13:58:53 PT
Sam
Clinton is no Obama. I didn't like Clinton because he always seemed shifty. He couldn't even give a straight answer about smoking marijuana. Kennedy endorsed Obama but as far as I know he didn't really push for Bill Clinton but I could be wrong. Clinton was an Arkansas Democrat. Obama is a Illinois Democrat. The further north you go the closer we are to thinking like a Canadian or at least like they were before this Prime Minister.
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Comment #14 posted by Sam Adams on August 26, 2009 at 13:22:36 PT
Obama
It's definitely Obama but it's more than that too. Under Clinton nothing changed at all. I think it's fairly simple, they see what's happening. The govt. deficit just tripled, we're bogged down in two major wars and many smaller ones (somalia for instance). Our economy is tanking, the only way it's going at all is because the government is printing money like mad and handing it out like candy (at essentially zero interest they're just printing money).We just can't take on everyone at once anymore. It's like the distant provinces of the Roman empire are starting to rebel and the Roman legions are all 2000 miles away and can't come anytime soon. Actually this scenario is exactly how Rome was sacked for the first time, the army was out of town and could get back in time to defend. Which of course is eerily similar to 9/11.
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Comment #13 posted by FoM on August 26, 2009 at 13:18:21 PT
Hope
I honestly don't think their opinions will matter that much to Obama. I really don't.
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Comment #12 posted by FoM on August 26, 2009 at 13:16:04 PT
tintala
I believe President Obama knows that Cannabis isn't a mind twisting substance. He is a smart man. He inhaled because that was the point. I really liked that answer.
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Comment #11 posted by Hope on August 26, 2009 at 13:03:16 PT
Comment 7
Print. Page 9 of the main section. The New York Times.Main section and print is good. At least it made the paper.Wonder if the Washington Post will cover it?
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Comment #10 posted by Hope on August 26, 2009 at 12:54:59 PT
Actually
the same one Potpal posted. All this is important news, I think.I'm pretty sure the anti's, Calvina, Joyce, the rest of them, are sniffing furiously under every door in Washington and ready to fight it like screaming banshees. They won't give up their overwhelming power quietly.
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Comment #9 posted by tintala on August 26, 2009 at 12:45:15 PT:
IF Bush were prez N OOOO WAAYYY
WIth obama as prez now, countries CAN think for themselves, I really think OBAMA wants to see how it works first in SOUTH AMERICA then maybe he'll give a try... You know I think when Obama was smoking reefer, he HAD to of said to himself, "damnit cannabis should be legal, if I become pres it will be legal". I wonder if he is that educated on the uses of HEMP too? So if pot is legal in SOUTH AMERICA isn't hemp?
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Comment #8 posted by FoM on August 26, 2009 at 12:28:38 PT
Right To Privacy
I like that. You'd think that a home would be a place of safety from government intervention in a country that preaches freedom to the world.
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Comment #7 posted by FoM on August 26, 2009 at 12:22:07 PT
In The New York Times Too!
Argentine Court Decriminalizes Private Marijuana Use ***By Alexei BarrionuevoPublished: August 25, 2009 Argentina’s Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that it was unconstitutional to punish an adult for possessing and consuming marijuana if it did not endanger others. In a unanimous ruling, the court struck down criminal penalties for using drugs “in private.” The court said public officials needed to fight illegal trafficking of narcotics while adopting methods to treat drug use as a health issue. A version of this article appeared in print on August 26, 2009, on page A9 of the New York edition.Copyright: 2009 The New York Times Company URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/26/world/americas/26briefs-argentinaruling.html
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Comment #6 posted by Hope on August 26, 2009 at 12:15:45 PT
This is an important one... maybe.
Argentina court ruling would allow personal use of pothttp://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/08/25/argentina.drug.decriminalization/index.html
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Comment #5 posted by FoM on August 26, 2009 at 11:40:53 PT
Sam
What it shows me is having Obama as President has taken the fear away. He doesn't have to do anything. All he has to do is leave other countries decide what they want to do. This is really a great way I think.
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Comment #4 posted by HempWorld on August 26, 2009 at 10:51:53 PT
Sam Adams
My thoughts exactly.
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Comment #3 posted by Sam Adams on August 26, 2009 at 10:34:59 PT
Argentina
This is great news, definitely a delayed reaction of Obama getting in.These don't seem like a big deal but I think they are huge. It shows that these countries are no longer willing to be bullied by the US. The empire is definitely fading and it's tied to economics.If we can't bully other countries anymore than the WOD will not be useful to the govt. anymore. That is the point. That is why decrim is great. We remove the benefits of WOD from the prohibitionists.
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on August 26, 2009 at 06:08:09 PT
potpal
Thank you for the link. It is happening and without much fanfare. I see angry people that are missing the whole change that is coming and I feel so sorry for them as I read different comments on the Internet. I always said change will come quietly and that's how it is happening.
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Comment #1 posted by potpal on August 26, 2009 at 05:38:41 PT
related news
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/08/25/argentina.drug.decriminalization/index.html
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