MEXICO GRAPPLES WITH WAVE OF DRUG VIOLENCE, PRESSURE FROM US ON HOW TO FIGHT IT

MEXICO CITY -- Mexican lawmakers are working to revive their bill
decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana, cocaine
and heroin, and hope to override a veto if necessary, saying the
reform will help curb drug-related violence that has killed more than
600 people this year.

President Vicente Fox called on Congress to drop decriminalization
from the drug-law overhaul after intense lobbying from the U.S. State
Department and mayors of several U.S. border cities, who called it a
disaster that would encourage hordes of young Americans to cross the
border for "drug tourism." Mexico's Roman Catholic Church also opposes
it.

With the July 2 election looming and lawmakers limited to one term,
any reform could be stalled until after a new president is inaugurated
in December.

But the issue isn't going away, and with every new battle over drugs
in Mexico City, Acapulco or the violent northern border cities, public
pressure grows for reforms to laws that many say police can't enforce.

"Consumption and addiction are public health issues, while drug
dealing is a criminal problem," said Rep. Eliana Garcia, who worked
with the federal attorney general's office as well as the health and
public safety departments to draft the original bill. "When you mix
them you get corruption."

Lawmakers say they had people like Jair Jimenez in mind when they
decided to decriminalize "personal use" amounts of marijuana, cocaine
and heroin. Jimenez, 28, smoked and sold crack cocaine in Mexico
City's tough Tepito barrio for a decade until a rival dealer put six
bullets in him last July.

"When I woke up in a hospital, I was with God. He gave me the strength
to free myself from this disease," Jimenez, now a regular at Narcotics
Anonymous, said with a smile as he rubbed the scars on his chest and
leg.

Under existing Mexican law, drug dealing is a federal crime, and so
local police usually leave it to federal authorities to take on armed
drug gangs, and fill arrest quotas with small-time users, Garcia said.
The bill Congress passed last month with the support of all major
parties would empower local police as well as federal agents to
investigate drug pushers.

While increasing penalties for large amounts of drugs, it would
decriminalize possession of up to 25 milligrams of heroin, 5 grams of
marijuana (about four joints) or 0.5 grams of cocaine -- the
equivalent of about four "lines."

The president's spokesman initially said Fox would sign it, but he
rebuffed it after the uproar broke out.

The leading presidential candidates, leftist Andres Manuel Lopez
Obrador and conservative Felipe Calderon, haven't taken positions on
the bill. But Garcia and other members of Lopez Obrador's Democratic
Revolution Party are among the most outspoken supporters.

Devout Roman Catholics, part of Calderon's base, are generally against
it. "Mexico, I warn, could become even more violent," said Cardinal
Norberto Rivera, the Archbishop of Mexico City.

Among urban youths, nearly 1 million have used crack, heroin or
methamphetamines. Crack sells for as little as $2 a hit in thousands
of so-called tienditas, or little drug shops, that have sprung up in
cities since drug abuse emerged as a serious problem in Mexico in the
1990s.

"Crack is the No. 1 problem we have in our cities," said Victor Guisa,
head of the government's 96 drug rehabilitation clinics. "Addicts end
up smoking vast quantities of rocks, making them strung out and prone
to violence and schizophrenia."

Gang violence surrounding Mexican drug consumption now mixes with
bloodshed unleashed by the big smuggling cartels, adding up to more
than 1,500 drug-related killings last year.

"All these crimes we are seeing, all these executions have more to do
with street dealing than with the big narcotics trafficking," said
Attorney General Daniel Cabeza de Vaca.

The former crack addicts in Tepito's Narcotics Anonymous group think
the solution is rehabilitation and investment in poor
communities.

"Everyday, the list gets longer," said Jimenez, the shooting survivor,
laying his palm on a mural showing the faces and names of dozens of
young men shot dead in drug disputes. "This violence is exterminating
our people."