Mexico close to decriminalizing some drug use

According to the Los Angeles Times, Mexico’s government is moving to decriminalizing the personal possession of certain narcotics.

The proposal to allow people to carry small amounts of drugs like cocaine and marijuana was debated and approved in April by the Mexican Congress. The bill awaits the approval of President Felipe Calderon who, coincidentally, was the impetus behind the legislation.

Despite the high amount of violence in Mexico stemming from drug gangs, the Calderon administration believes that the decriminalization measure will help combat crime:

(Calderon’s) reasoning: It makes sense to distinguish between small-time users and big-time dealers, while re-targeting major crime-fighting resources away from the consumers and toward the dealers and their drug lord bosses.

"The important thing is . . . that consumers are not treated as criminals," said Rafael Ruiz Mena, secretary general of the National Institute of Penal Sciences. "It is a public health problem, not a penal problem."

Though the U.S. and Mexico have vowed greater cooperation in order to stem drug-related violence, it remains to be seen how the White House will react to the decriminalization plan. It was only three years ago that Calderon’s predecessor- Vicente Fox- tried to push through his own decriminalization bill but he quickly backtracked after being pressured by the Bush administration.

Image- Guardian UK
Online Sources- Guardian UK, The Latin Americanist, Los Angeles Times