Mexico’s Congress has softened its laws to allow possession of small amounts of drugs including cocaine and heroin for personal use– raising questions about how U.S.-Mexico drug operations will proceed.
And it also raises another question: will Mexico’s softening of its drug laws cause a REAL “run to the border” by young Americans seeking to take advantage of a more drug-friendly climate?
The change reportedly shocked some in Washington:
MEXICO CITY — The Senate approved a bill Friday decriminalizing possession of small quantities of drugs for personal use — including heroin, cocaine, LSD and Ecstasy.
President Vicente Fox’s office indicated that he would sign the bill, which has already passed the lower house of Congress. Mexican officials say they hope the measure will allow police to focus on large-scale trafficking operations rather than minor drug busts.
The bill, passed in the early morning on a vote of 53 to 26, with one abstention, also stiffens penalties for trafficking and for possession of drugs, even small quantities, by government employees or near schools. It maintains criminal penalties for drug sales.
“This law gives police and prosecutors better legal tools to combat drug crimes that do so much damage to our youth and children,” Fox spokesman Ruben Aguilar said.
But the legislation came as a shock to Washington, which counts on Mexico’s support in the fight against smugglers who move large quantities of drugs through Mexico to U.S. users.
“I would say any law that decriminalizes dangerous drugs is not very helpful,” said Judith Bryan, spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City.
Under the bill, it would be legal to have 25 milligrams of heroin, a fifth of an ounce of marijuana or half a gram of cocaine. The bill also makes it legal to possess small amounts of LSD, hallucinogenic mushrooms, amphetamines and peyote.
President Vicente Fox had proposed the law in January 2004 in the hopes of slowing down the rapid growth in drug addiction and the ranks of small-time dealers that has hit Mexican cities and towns in recent years, just as it has long plagued American cities.
Both houses of the Mexican Congress passed it in a last-minute flurry of legislation as their session drew to a close. The final version of the bill passed the Senate by a vote of 53 to 26 during an all-night session that ended Friday morning. After its final approval, the president’s spokesman, Ruben Aguilar, said Mr. Fox would sign it into law.
“This law gives police and prosecutors better legal tools to combat drug crimes that do so much damage to our youth and children,” Mr. Aguilar said.
A United States Embassy official in Mexico deplored the new measure.
Still, once the news sunk in the U.S. took a more restrained position, the AP reports:
The United States reacted cautiously on Saturday to a Mexican measure that would make it legal to carry small amounts of cocaine, heroin and other drugs for personal use….
….Mexican lawmakers have said the bill will let authorities focus on major drug traffickers and not clutter prisons with small-time offenders.
U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Judith Bryan said Saturday the measure could actually make it easier to prosecute drug crimes because it attempts to “precisely specify the amount of narcotics in possession of a suspect to allow a criminal prosecution.”
“Preliminary information from Mexican legislative sources indicates that the intent of the draft legislation is to clarify the ‘small amounts’ of drugs for personal use as stated in current Mexican law,” she said.
Mexican law already left open the possibility of dropping charges against people caught with drugs if they are considered addicts and if “the amount is the quantity necessary for personal use.” The new bill drops the “addict” requirement – automatically letting any “consumers” have drugs – and sets out specific allowable quantities.
But the Washington Post called it a “desperate measure” and its report noted that it could have far-reaching consequences:
In an interview Saturday, Mayor Jerry Sanders of San Diego, the largest U.S. border city, said the timing of the measure could imperil efforts to reform immigration law in the United States: “This really stirs things up,” he said. Sanders, a former San Diego Police chief, called the law “appallingly stupid, reckless and incredibly dangerous” and predicted that it would lead to a flood of teenagers trying to sneak into his city from Mexico with illegal drugs.
Indeed: this weblog is written from San Diego, CA. This writer used to cover the border for the San Diego Union. The issue of not just members of the military but teenagers “partying” in Tijuana has long been a contentious one. A lingering question: how will U.S. and Mexican officials react if Tijuana (and other Mexican border cities such as Mexicali) now get a slew of American teens and others visiting Mexico to pump money into buying small amounts of drugs from drug dealers? MORE:
U.S. government reaction was more measured, with State Department spokesman Janelle Hironimus citing cooperation between the two nations in the battle against drugs.
“Preliminary information from Mexican legislative sources indicates that the intent of the draft legislation is to clarify the meaning of ‘small amounts’ of drugs for personal use as stated in current Mexican law,” Hironimus said.
Some advocates of drug law reform in the United States applauded Mexico’s decision.
The Post recounts Fox’s declared war on drug dealers, the pushback from the drug cartels and the growth of them, which lead Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Tex.) to say Mexico is becoming: “the second Colombia.”
It’s too early to tell but another question will be: is this a wise tactical adjustment — or Mexico starting to inch up a white flag in its battle against the drug cartels?
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.