Posted on 05/02/2006 6:08:26 PM PDT by Aussie Dasher
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's president will approve a law that decriminalizes possession of small amounts of marijuana, cocaine and other drugs to concentrate on fighting violent narco gangs, the government said on Tuesday.
President Vicente Fox will not oppose the bill, passed by senators last week, presidential spokesman Ruben Aguilar told reporters, despite likely tensions with the United States.
"The president is going to sign that law, there would be no objection," he said. "It appears to be a good law and an advance in combating narcotics trafficking."
The approval of the legislation, passed earlier by the lower house of Congress, surprised Washington, which counts on Mexico's support in its war against gangs that move massive quantities of cocaine, heroin, marijuana and methamphetamines through Mexico to U.S. consumers.
Under the law, police will not penalize people for possessing up to 5 grams of marijuana, 5 grams of opium, 25 milligrams of heroin. Nor does the law penalize possession of 500 milligrams of cocaine -- enough for a few lines.
(Excerpt) Read more at today.reuters.com ...
He is setting it up for Hillary.
Fox has said "If you can't beat em, join em". Without question we should heed *HIS* advice when it comes to the illegal immigration problem. How long will it be before he berates the US for arresting illegal immigrants "who only have a small amount of marijuana et al...".
Its coming. Its not a matter of if, its a matter of when.
We've got a lot of people calling for drug legalization here. So now we've got a ringside seat to see how it works out for Mexico.
Good luck to them.
Meanwhile, lets work on that fence. Faster, please.
sw
Hey - it'll be great for cable ratings. There's always going to be a few that never come back. Well, maybe more than a few.
Ok, maybe I'm stupid (did too much dope in my youth?), but I just don't get it.
Since I see nothing (at least, in the article) as to just where these drugs will come from, just how will this damage the Cartels? Unless the Mex. gov. intends to take over the production and distribution, won't the users still be getting the dope from the bad guys (with no incentive now to stop)? Isn't this tantamount to repealing prohibition but letting Capone and the mobs to manufacture, sale, and distribute the booze? Isn't this actually surrendering and empowering the Cartels?
Oh ya. And decriminalizing small amounts will make the Mexican gangs just go away.
*WE* could decriminalize small amounts and they'd just sell it themselves here.
Given that most of those 'tourists' are likely to come from CA (Hollyweird, San Fran., Santa Cruz, etc...) you make a very good point.
I expect to see an increase in traffic in both directions - California's counter-culture going down to buy drugs and drugs coming up here to be sold.
Bush and John Walters are having nightmares. I hope John Walters can never sleep soundly again.
I guess he learned it from Bush.
What's next, government supplied dope for the poor?
¡Un toke sobre la línea!
I agree. Reminds me of bush41 doing same for bubba-boy. As the xlintons are close to the bushes, one can only guess how close and what each knows about the other.
This is becoming very disheartening. We need Ronaldus Maximus!!!
Fox has taken the lead from Bush's stance on illegal aliens. Too many people breaking the law, too many people to arrest, so let's legalize it.
Sure, but it does prevent crooked cops from using the system to send anyone they wish to jail by planting a demonized substance upon a citizen. It also would prevent them from selectively prosecuting the drug war in order to purge the voting rosters of a significant percentage of minorities. But, should we be taking tools away from our LEOs and DEAmen?
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