ANTI-DRUG BILL IN MEXICO STIRS U.S. CONFUSION

While Some See Move to Decriminalize, Backers Tout Dealer Crackdown

MEXICO CITY - A sweeping anti-drug bill awaiting President Vicente
Fox's signature would for the first time authorize state and local
police, in addition to federal police, to arrest drug dealers. And it
would close a legal loophole that has allowed nearly all suspects to
avoid prosecution.

But you couldn't tell that from the international attention the bill
has received since being passed last week. Most of the criticism has
come from the U.S.

News stories in the U.S. media have focused on one aspect of the bill
that defined the amount of drugs that "an addict" or "a consumer"
could possess without facing criminal prosecution.

That generated images of an Amsterdam across the border, with
American youths inhaling illegal drugs at a clip similar to their
infamous alcohol consumption.

'State of Disbelief'

The mayor of San Diego, Jerry Sanders, was quoted by The Associated
Press as saying he was "in a state of disbelief," and The Washington
Post dubbed it "a desperate measure" and "limited legalization" in a headline.

Government spokesmen in Washington were taken aback at Mexico's
sudden "decriminalization" of drugs.

The phone in the international press office of the presidential
residence of Los Pinos has been ringing since Mexico's Congress
passed the bill late Friday, a spokesman said.

This has Mexican officials who support the measure scratching their
heads. American journalists, said Sen. Jorge Zermeno of Mr. Fox's
conservative National Action Party, missed the boat by a nautical mile.

"They are more or less in a state of confusion because they have
focused on just this part of the law [minor drug possession] without
reading the rest of it," Mr. Zermeno said. "This is a law designed to
punish drug dealers more severely."

For example, only federal police currently are allowed to pursue drug
offenses. That's just 5 percent of all police in Mexico. The bill on
Mr. Fox's desk would extend that to all police, a major change, Mr.
Zermeno said.

Raymundo Riva Palacio, a columnist on drug issues for the Mexico City
newspaper El Universal, said Mexico would never legalize drugs before
the U.S. did.

"It's an exaggeration and an absurdity to suggest that we are going
to become another Amsterdam," Mr. Riva Palacio said, referring to the
Dutch city, which has a reputation for being tolerant of recreational
drugs. "In no way is this opening the door toward legalization."

In fact, analysts and legislators said, the bill would not really
decriminalize drugs after it is signed into law by Mr. Fox, because
the current criminal code already waives jail time for "addicts" who
possess drugs "for personal use." In other words, minor drug use was
decriminalized long ago.

Mr. Fox, in an interview with The Dallas Morning News in February,
said that "drug consumption in Mexico is legal" but that he was
pushing for laws that would go after drug dealers who are
contributing to the explosion in narco violence.

In March, Attorney General Daniel Cabeza de Vaca said current laws do
not define the amount of drugs one can possess without being subject
to prosecution. So dealers used the vagary of "for personal use" to
avoid jail even when they might be carrying dozens of "doses."
Mexican prosecutors' hands were tied, the attorney general said.

"There is a lot of leeway given to people who declare themselves to
be addicts," Mr. Cabeza de Vaca said. "Consumption is not penalized."

Hence, the new bill and its attention-grabbing definition of minor
drug quantities that are not subject to prosecution.

'Consumer' Flaw Seen

Still, to suggest that even those quantities could be consumed openly
in border towns or in Cancun without getting the attention of the
Mexican police is naive, analysts said.

Americans, for example, would be subject to a shakedown by police and
mistreatment in jail before a judge eventually freed them.

Mr. Zermeno agreed that there is a flaw in the bill, but one that can
be addressed down the road. The flaw, he said, is the addition of the
word "consumers" to the new law, meaning "consumers" and "addicts"
would be free from prosecution. The old law focused leniency
exclusively on "addicts."

The recognition of drug users as being exempt from prosecution sends
the wrong message at a time when Mexico is awash in narcotics and the
country's relatively minimal drug use is rising, he said.

"The word 'consumer' is a mistake," Mr. Zermeno said. "It does create
some confusion."