Mexican lawmakers revive watered-down version of drug decriminalization bill
By: MARK STEVENSON - Associated Press Writer
February 13, 2007
MEXICO CITY -- Mexican senators said on Monday they are reintroducing a watered-down version of a 2006 drug-reform bill criticized by the United States because it would have decriminalized amounts of marijuana and other drugs.
The new bill, to be presented in a joint Senate committee Wednesday, drops the previous proposal for a blanket decriminalization covering all drug "consumers," and drastically reduces amounts of drugs that can be considered possession for personal use.
"An error was made, unfortunately, in the lower house, adding the (exemption for) consumers," said Sen. Alejandro Gonzalez Alcocer, president of the Senate Judiciary committee, which will formally present the proposed bill on Wednesday
"That really betrayed the spirit of the reforms, by increasing (personal use) quantities, and that's why we're paying attention to the criticisms and making changes," he noted.
The new bill exempts from criminal prosecution only Indians who use traditional hallucinogens as part of their rituals; addicts who can prove they are undergoing treatment for the problem, and first-time offenders.
The exemption for addicts and first offenders caught with drugs for "personal use" already exist in current law, but the definitions of an addict or personal-use amounts are unclear. The thrust of the new bill is to clarify distinctions between drug users and traffickers, and allow local police to act against small-time dealers.
The 2006 bill would have gone much further, exempting just about anyone from criminal prosecution for possession of five grams of marijuana (an amount equivalent to 4 or 5 cigarettes).
The new bill reduces that limit to one gram, or a single joint and first offenders caught with that single joint would be subjected to a fine, but could be prosecuted for a second offense.
The legal definition of maximum "personal use" amounts for other drugs mentioned in the original bill -- such as cocaine, heroin and methamphetamines -- would also be reduced to a "single dose" basis under the new proposal, senators said.
"The defects that this law had several months ago have been fixed," said Sen. Ernesto Saro Boardman, president of the Senate Health Commission. "The (drug) quantities are significantly less than in the original version."
The original bill passed both houses of Congress, but was vetoed by then-president Vicente Fox in May 2006 after U.S. officials expressed their opposition to decriminalization and "urged Mexican representatives to review the legislation urgently, to avoid the perception that drug use would be tolerated in Mexico."
The new bill would actually make it tougher for people to escape prosecution by claiming to be drug addicts, one of the legal loopholes frequently used at present in Mexico, where very few small-time dealers ever go to jail.
Those caught with drugs under the new bill would have to prove they were undergoing treatment at a hospital, rehabilitation center or under a doctors' care.
"There was no clear definition of who was an addict and who was engaging in drug possession," Saro Boardman noted
The most important aspect of the proposal, legislators stressed, was that it would allow state and local police to get involved in combatting street-level drug dealing, currently considered a federal crime.
"This is going to help our cities like in Baja California. This is something we've been fighting for a long time, because drugs have proliferated here," said Gonzalez Alcocer, whose home state of Baja California has been beset by drugs and drug-fueled crime, especially in border cities like Tijuana.
At least one of the largest "personal use" allowances included in the old law will remain in the new bill: the decriminalization for use by Indian groups of up to one kilogram (2.2. lbs) of peyote, the hallucinogenic cactus eaten during traditional rituals.
"It looks like an excessively large amount, but in reality, it's an attempt to decriminalize this for people who carry or bring it to rituals," said Gonzalez Alcocer, referring to Indian healers or leaders from groups like the Huichol Indians.
"In the past, they've been caught with such large amounts, they were jailed," he said. The clause would apparently only apply to certain Indian groups.
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