Drugs - News

Mexico decriminalizes small drug amounts

MEXICO CITY, Aug. 22 2009 (UPI) -- Mexican President Felipe Calderon's war against drug cartels may be hurt by the decriminalization of small amounts of illegal drugs, critics say.

A new law, which took effect Friday, allows for the possession of the equivalent of about five joints of marijuana or four lines of cocaine, as well as small amounts of heroin and other drugs. It is a bid to free prosecutors up to concentrate on Calderon's war against large-scale drug traffickers, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Among the bill's main provisions:

  • Decriminalizes "personal use" amounts of drugs;
  • Recognizes harm reduction as a guiding principle;
  • Does not require forced drug treatment for "personal use" possessors;
  • Recognizes traditional cultural drug use;
  • Allows states and municipalities to prosecute small-time drug dealing ("narcomenudeo"), an offense which currently is handled exclusively by federal authorities;
  • Allows police to make drug buys to build cases.

The amounts of various drugs that are decriminalized for personal use are

  • cocaine -- ½ gram
  • opium -- 2 grams
  • heroin -- 1/10 gram
  • marijuana -- 5 grams
  • LSD -- 150 micrograms
  • methamphetamine -- 1/5 gram
  • ecstasy -- 1/5 gram

 

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A Losing Battle: The War on Drugs

Perhaps Portugal’s model is one of follow. Greenwald wrote that after the country decriminalized all drugs earlier this decade, marked improvement can be demonstrated in every relevant metric – from drug abuse to drug-related crime.

April 6, 2009

Here is a number to keep in mind as you read about drug-fueled violence in Mexico. It is 1.3 percent, which represents Americans who report being addicted to illegal narcotics. Here is another number: 80. That’s the number of years over which the percentage of Americans addicted to illegal narcotics has gone unchanged................

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California's Answer to the Recession

Proposition 390 introduced by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano
Could cannabis pull California out of the deepening economic recession? One lawmaker thinks it can.

Ammiano's argument that AB 390 would free police to pursue more serious crime has more merit. Laws against marijuana use seem especially troubling, given the large number of Americans who admit marijuana use, including two presidents and one U.S. Supreme Court justice. So, less-punitive attitudes toward drug offenders are favorable for several reasons. Long prison sentences for those involved with drugs have contributed to the bloated prison population, which is overwhelming the state budget. Drug penalties, for example, for possession with the intent to distribute may rival penalties for crimes that involve far greater risk to personal safety. Unlike alcohol use, marijuana use is not associated with violent crime.

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