UNDER FIRE, FOX RETREATS ON DRUG BILL

Reversal Follows US Criticism That Measure Amounts to Legalization

MEXICO CITY -- President Vicente Fox said late Wednesday that he was
sending a sweeping anti-drug bill back to Congress because of
criticism that it might appear too soft on small-time drug users.

In a prepared statement, Mr. Fox's office said that the core of the
measure, which lets local and state police to join the drug fight with
their federal counterparts for the first time, was vital to his
government's crackdown on drug dealers.

A provision in the bill that defines the quantities of drugs that
"addicts" or "users" could possess without criminal prosecution drew
criticism, mostly from the U.S., that the bill amounted to
legalization.

Legislators who supported the bill said that, in fact, Mexico
decriminalized the possession of drugs "for personal use" many years
ago.

The new legislation was designed to clarify how much of those drugs a
user or addict could possess in order to close a legal loophole that
allowed dealers to escape prosecution claiming that even relatively
large amounts of drugs in their possession were for personal use.

In his statement issued late Wednesday, Mr. Fox said the law should be
changed "to make it absolutely clear that in our country the
possession of drugs and their consumption are and continue to be crimes."

Officials from the State Department and the White House met with the
Mexican ambassador in Washington on Monday and expressed grave
reservations about the law, saying it would draw tourists to Mexico
who want to take drugs and would lead to more consumption, said Tom
Riley, a spokesman for the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

"Mexico is not, has not been and will not be a refuge for anyone who
wants to consume drugs," said Eduardo Medina Mora, the federal police
chief and the main architect of the first measure.