MEXICO'S PRESIDENT BEGINS PLAN TO DECRIMINALIZE SMALL-TIME DRUG USE

Law To Cover Tiny Amounts Of Pot, Opium, Cocaine, Heroin, Meth

MEXICO CITY -- Mexican President Felipe Calderon, locked in a bloody
battle with drug cartels, wants to decriminalize the possession of
small amounts of street drugs in a plan likely to irk Washington.

Calderon, a conservative in power nearly two years, sent a proposal
to Congress yesterday that would scrap the penalties for drugs
including cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, opium and marijuana.

"What we are seeking is to not treat an addict as a criminal, but
rather as a sick person and give them psychological and medical
treatment," said Sen. Alejandro Gonzalez, head of the Senate's
justice committee.

Under Calderon's plan, people carrying up to two grams of marijuana
or opium, half a gram of cocaine, 50 milligrams of heroin or 40
milligrams of methamphetamine would face no criminal charges.

It would also give Mexican states the power to try drug dealers in
local courts instead of at the federal level.

Reviving a similar effort by his predecessor, Calderon aims to free
up police to hunt for dealers and smugglers. But the plan could run
into opposition in largely conservative Mexico as well as in the United States.

In a separate proposal, the president asked the Senate to shake up
Mexico's notoriously inept and often corrupt police.

Calderon said poor training and a lack of co-ordination between
forces are hindering efforts to rein in rampant drug violence and
organized crime.

"They are at the limit in terms of not sharing intelligence in crime
fighting, something which eventually means a lack of organization in
the state's capacity to deal with the crime phenomenon," he said.

Some analysts say that up to half of Mexico's police could be in the
pay of drug cartels, which offer bribes that dwarf the paltry wages
of the average officer.

Former president Vicente Fox introduced a drug decriminalization
measure in 2006 but ditched it after Washington objected and critics
on both sides of the border said it could lure "drug tourists" from
the United States and elsewhere.

Drug use is less common among young people in Mexico than in the
United States or Europe. But consumption is creeping up with the
growth of the middle class and as tighter border controls mean more
cocaine stays in the country.

Calderon has deployed thousands of troops to clamp down on the drug
gangs that shuttle Colombian cocaine over Mexico's northern border.
But cartel violence has soared as a result, killing some 3,000 people
so far this year.