Mexico Senate OKs Bill To Legalize Drug Possesion

[Ganjarden]

Mexico's Senate approved a bill on Tuesday decriminalizing possession of small amounts of narcotics for personal use, in order to free resources to fight violent drug cartels.

The bill, proposed by conservative President Felipe Calderon, would make it legal to carry up to 5 grams (0.18 ounces) of marijuana, 500 milligrams (0.018 ounces) of co*aine and tiny quantities of other drugs such as he*oin and metham*hetamines.

Mexico's Congress passed a similar proposal in 2006 but the bill was vetoed by Calderon's predecessor Vicente Fox, under pressure from the United States, which said it would increase drug abuse, but now is worried by the drug-related violence along its border.

Calderon has staked his presidency on curtailing the escalating violence between rival drug gangs as they fight over smuggling routes to the United States, with violence spilling into U.S. cities like Phoenix and Tucson.

Calderon was praised by U.S. President Barack Obama this month for his army crackdown in a visit to the Mexican capital and Washington is sending more agents to its side of the border to curb the flow of guns and cash to the cartels.

Drug violence has killed 2,000 people this year across Mexico after 6,300 deaths in 2008.

The bill, which needs to be approved by the lower house, also allows Mexican states to convict small-time drug dealers, no longer making it a federal crime to peddle drugs. Drug dealers are rarely convicted in Mexico as federal courts are saturated with bigger cases and local judges cannot interfere.

Mexico's Congress convenes for a final session before its recess on Thursday but may call an extraordinary session given the outbreak of deadly swine flu in the country that has forced lawmakers to hold sessions behind closed doors to prevent further contagion.


News Hawk- Ganjarden 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: Reuters
Author: Miguel Angel Gutierrez
Contact: Reuters
Copyright: 2009 Thomson Reuters
Website: Mexico Senate OKs Bill To Legalize Drug Possesion

 

[lkeller]

This is fantastic! I wonder if the US will follow suit and allow us to smoke our herb in public without being harassed?
Although I strongly disagree with legalizing small amounts of co*aine and other hard drugs. Someone needs to get the point across that you can't categorize cannabis and hard drugs in the same category.

 

[Weed420]

Cool. Our own little amsterdam on our own continent.

 

[trueblu8]

This is fantastic! I wonder if the US will follow suit and allow us to smoke our herb in public without being harassed?
Although I strongly disagree with legalizing small amounts of coc*aine and other hard drugs. Someone needs to get the point across that you can't categorize cannabis and hard drugs in the same category.

You may disagree, but prohibition of anything is wrong.

"Prohibition... goes beyond the bound of reason in that it attempts to control a man's appetite by legislation and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes. A prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded"
-Abraham Lincoln

They have decriminalized the use and possession of ALL drugs in Portugal and there has been NO increase in usage. The money that was once used to incarcerate people is now being put towards treatment and education. People continually choose to conveniently ignore the facts. Prohibition does not work, it does more harm than good. When will people realize this?

 

[Herb Fellow]

Obama could fix the problem.

 

[lkeller]

You may disagree, but prohibition of anything is wrong.

"Prohibition... goes beyond the bound of reason in that it attempts to control a man's appetite by legislation and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes. A prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded"
-Abraham Lincoln

They have decriminalized the use and possession of ALL drugs in Portugal and there has been NO increase in usage. The money that was once used to incarcerate people is now being put towards treatment and education. People continually choose to conveniently ignore the facts. Prohibition does not work, it does more harm than good. When will people realize this?

Sorry, I don't want to see he*oin shops at every corner and the he*oin population out in the streets just hanging around and acting weird. In the constitution it is written that any man can use any drug as he may please (somewhere along those lines). I think society needs to determine what is a drug and what is a narcotic. The definition of drug to me is anything that is mind altering. Cannabis is a drug, caffeine is a drug, sugar is a drug, Nicotine and alcohol is a drug (but could fall in the lines of a narcotic in some ways). A narcotic is anything that is unnatural and goes through a lengthy process to change its chemical makeup into a mind altering substance. Narcotics should be controlled without a doubt.

There is a difference between 100% natural, organic, God-given gift and a man made atrocity (substance) that hurts the body tremendously.

Peace,
Lkeller

 

[trueblu8]

Sorry, I don't want to see heroin shops at every corner and the heroin population out in the streets just hanging around and acting weird. In the constitution it is written that any man can use any drug as he may please (somewhere along those lines). I think society needs to determine what is a drug and what is a narcotic. The definition of drug to me is anything that is mind altering. Cannabis is a drug, caffeine is a drug, sugar is a drug, Nicotine and alcohol is a drug (but could fall in the lines of a narcotic in some ways). A narcotic is anything that is unnatural and goes through a lengthy process to change its chemical makeup into a mind altering substance. Narcotics should be controlled without a doubt.

There is a difference between 100% natural, organic, God-given gift and a man made atrocity (substance) that hurts the body tremendously.

Peace,
Lkeller

I don't want to see that either. And I agree about how harmful narcotics can be. But you are assuming that ending prohibition would cause an increase in use. I believe if the money that is spent on the drug war is put towards something constructive such as education and treatment I see the exact opposite happening, not an increase in use, but a big decrease, at least towards the harmful stuff anyways. I believe that if people are given the choice, they are not going to choose to do something that is going to destroy their lives. But there is only one country doing this so far, so we will have to watch and see. In the end though, one fact remains, prohibition causes more harm than good.

 

[lkeller]

If that ever happens I am hoping it is considered taboo.