Posted on 04/28/2006 4:25:24 PM PDT by Wiz
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Possessing 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 Congress.
The measure given final passage by senators in a late night session on 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 on 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 marijuana, 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.
The legislation came as a surprise to Washington, which counts on Mexico's support in its war against drug smuggling gangs who move massive quantities of cocaine, heroin, marijuana and methamphetamines through Mexico to U.S. consumers.
A delegation from the U.S. House of Representatives visited Mexico last week and met with senior officials to discuss drug control issues, but was told nothing of the planned legislative changes, said Michelle Gress, a House subcommittee counsel who was part of the visiting team.
"We were not informed," she told Reuters.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
I wonder how this will effect the immigration issue?
The Libs ought to be crying tears of joy over this!
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IMHO - It won't, but it might make tourism a bit more comfortable in Mexico.
This will help stem the tide of illegals...coming here.
I thought it was already legal in Mexico given they transport billions of it into the U.S. every year. Duh.
As should the Liberalterians.
It will be easier to carry around drugs in Mexico, and carry down the border. That would mean there would be more need to secure the border, and put pressure on the congress to upgrade the security. Meanwhile, more chance that Mexicans will be addicted to such drugs, these people who come to US for immigration will suffer from addiction being denied from illegal drugs, creating problems within the US. Mexico is just going backwards on civilization. I wonder how many more years it will take to "decivilize" Mexico into an anarchist backyard.
You think marijuana smugglers carry only 5 grams at a time?
IMHO the War on Drugs was lost twenty years ago. I worked on the border with the Customs Service for over 30 years.
Now it is going to be even more difficult. The U.S. made an agreement during that period to apprehend and turn over any Mexican citizens caught bringing in large quantities of marijuana or other drugs, along with the contraband and the automobile to the Mexican Federal Judicial police. Mexico was to prosecute the Mexican nationals.
All of the contrand was marked as evidence by U.S. Customs prior to being turned over to Mexican authorities. Many times we would seize the same contraband again being re-smuggled. The markings of the original Seizure where still on the packages. They hadn't even bothered to remove or repackage them.
It is a "Brave New World" that we are facing. Mnay Mexican come to the U.S. legally or illegally because it is considered safer and the U.S. offers more opportunities for them than the Mexican system.
Now with demonstrations going on to make the U.S. a satellite of Mexico I wonder if it enters their mind what the implications of that will be.
A lawless society. The Liberals of course rejoice about this. As we have seen recently several South american Countries have led the way in decriminalizing drugs.
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