MEXICO PROPOSES NEW DRUG BILL

Updated Version Drops A Clause Allowing Users To Skirt Punishment

MEXICO CITY -- A new drug-abuse bill is making its way through the
Mexican Senate, just months after a more liberal measure was scrapped
amid pressure from Washington.

The proposed legislation, due to be voted on Wednesday by the Justice
and Health committees, drops a clause that would have allowed drug
users to escape punishment.

U.S. officials complained that the provision, which they viewed as
decriminalization, would have inspired some American tourists to go
on drug binges.

The bill, which Mexican officials said is needed to curb a soaring
drug problem, would require first-time offenders caught with small
quantities to enter mandatory treatment programs.

Second-time offenders would face criminal charges and could serve jail terms.

Street-level drug dealers would face years of imprisonment upon
conviction, while traffickers and drug-gang soldiers would come under
different laws that specify even longer sentences.

'Personal Use'

But people carrying small quantities of drugs for so-called "personal
use" -- defined in the bill as 2 grams of marijuana or 40 milligrams
of methamphetamine -- would escape prosecution, which officials said
was a continuation of current policy.

Officials said 2 grams of marijuana would make four cigarettes, and
40 milligrams of methamphetamine is the equivalent of about one pill.

Those quantities are far lower than the amounts permitted in the original bill.

Judith Bryan, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City,
declined to comment on the specifics of the new bill but said that
"it is obviously of interest to us."

Increases Police Power

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 the measure's provisions.

"Given the grave situation our country is facing in terms of drug
consumption, it is absolutely indispensable to push through this
proposal," said Sen. Ulises Ramirez, a member of the Justice Committee.

Mario Moronatti, a technical adviser to the Senate Health Committee,
insisted that the new bill makes it clear the government does not
condone drug use. "Nor is it legalizing consumption," he said.

Moronatti said he expected the legislation to pass easily in
committee, but that it could face a tough debate on the Senate floor.

Supporters of the bill, including Attorney General Eduardo
Medina-Mora, insist that it is a critical tool in fighting drug abuse
in Mexico.

While Mexican officials long considered drug use a headache for U.S.
policy-makers, consumption of cocaine and methamphetamines has
increased an estimated 200 percent over the past decade.

Officials blame competition for the lucrative local market for much
of the escalating drug violence, which claimed more than 2,000 lives last year.

The new bill would increase funding for drug treatment programs and
empower Mexico's 400,000 local and state police to pursue and arrest
street dealers, currently the responsibility of the 30,000-member
federal police force.

It would also help police and judges distinguish between consumers and dealers.

Currently, they rely on their own discretion in deciding whether to
send someone to a treatment center or jail, wiggle room that critics
say encourages bribes.

It would also require addicts to provide proof of their illness and
ensure they undergo mandatory drug treatment, the bill's sponsors said.

Ritual use allowedIn addition, indigenous groups would be permitted
to use peyote and mushrooms as part of their rituals, an attempt to
spare them frequent police harassment and jail.

However, the bill needs the support of President Felipe Calderon, who
has won praise in Washington for his aggressive crackdowns on the
drug gangs since taking office Dec. 1.

Like Fox, he may choose caution over ruffling feathers in Washington,
analysts say.

"I think whatever law that seems permissive of consumption would have
a very small chance of being approved by Calderon," said journalist
Jorge Luis Sierra, who writes about the drug war.

He and other analysts also pointed to an apparent contradiction in
the new bill.

It would place more power into the hands of the same local police
forces that federal officials deem too corrupt or poorly trained to
battle the traffickers. Since the mid-1990s, the federal government
has relied increasingly on the army and military-trained federal
police to combat the narco-gangs.

Military Might

Calderon is no exception.

Since his inauguration in December, he has handed over control of the
drug war to the military, deploying more than 20,000 troops to battle
drug cartels.

In Tijuana, the soldiers went as far as to strip the city's municipal
police force of all weapons and check for suspected links to traffickers.

"Confidence in the local police is nonexistent," said Sierra, editor
of the Rumbo del Valle newspaper in McAllen. "They're no good.
Whatever information they get goes straight to the traffickers and dealers."

However, he said the government has no choice but to enlist the local
police in the drug war, but first it must invest heavily in training
and ethics programs.

"It won't be fast or easy," he said, "but it's essential."