Mexico Under Siege

MEXICO MOVES QUIETLY TO DECRIMINALIZE MINOR DRUG USE

President Calderon Is Set to Sign the Law, but Some Fear That Letting
Off Users Caught With Limited Amounts of Drugs Will Increase Drug Use
and Encourage 'Drug Tourists' From the U.S.

Could Mexican cities become Latin Amsterdams, flooded by drug users
seeking penalty-free tokes and toots?

That is the fear, if somewhat overstated, of some Mexican officials,
especially in northern border states that serve as a mecca for
underage drinkers from the United States.

The anxiety stems from the Mexican legislature's quiet vote to
decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana, cocaine,
methamphetamine and other drugs, an effort that in the past proved
controversial.

There's been less protest this time, in part because there hasn't
been much publicity.

Some critics have suggested that easing the punishment for drug
possession sends the wrong message while President Felipe Calderon is
waging a bloody war against major narcotics traffickers. The battle
between law enforcement authorities and drug suspects has claimed
more than 11,000 lives since he took office in late 2006.

But it was Calderon who proposed the decriminalization legislation.

His reasoning: It makes sense to distinguish between small-time users
and big-time dealers, while re-targeting major crime-fighting
resources away from the consumers and toward the dealers and their
drug lord bosses.

"The important thing is . . . that consumers are not treated as
criminals," said Rafael Ruiz Mena, secretary general of the National
Institute of Penal Sciences. "It is a public health problem, not a
penal problem."

The legislation was approved at the height of a swine flu outbreak
that dominated the public's, and the world's, attention. Meeting at
times behind closed doors, the lower and upper houses of Congress
passed the bill in the last days of April. It now awaits Calderon's signature.

The bill says users caught with small amounts -- 5 grams of
marijuana, 500 milligrams of cocaine -- clearly intended for
"personal and immediate use" will not be criminally prosecuted. They
will be told of available clinics, and encouraged to enter a
rehabilitation program.

Up to 40 milligrams of methamphetamine, a synthetic and especially
harmful drug, is permitted under the legislation, as is up to 50
milligrams of heroin.

In May 2006, then-President Vicente Fox, of the same right-wing party
as Calderon, vetoed a similar bill that he initially had supported.
He backed down only under pressure from the Bush administration,
which complained that decriminalization for even small amounts could
increase use.

But with about two weeks to go before crucial mid-term elections in
which his party is struggling to maintain control of Congress,
Calderon cannot afford to be seen as bowing to the United States, analysts say.

Already under intense criticism for the drug-related violence,
Calderon needs to maintain good relations with his nation's Congress,
where much of the opposition voted in favor of the decriminalization bill.

And so, political observers say, he probably will sign it into law.
Calderon's office declined to comment for this article.

So far, the U.S. government has not publicly objected to the
legislation. Michele Leonhart, acting director of the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration, however, said in April that legalization
"would be a failed law enforcement strategy for both the U.S. and Mexico."

Mexican officials emphasize that they are not talking about
legalization, but decriminalization. Courts now decide on a
case-by-case basis whether and how to punish first-time drug-use
offenders. There has been no standard criteria.

Calderon originally wanted the bill to allow users caught with
amounts within the limits to avoid jail time only if they agreed to
rehabilitation. But the bill was changed to say only that treatment
would be encouraged.

Then Calderon sought a provision in which a third-time offender would
be obliged to seek treatment. That measure was removed, Ruiz Mena
said, after debate over whether mandatory rehabilitation is ever effective.

Mexico is woefully under-equipped to handle a rising drug-abuse problem.

For decades the country was a transit point for cocaine, marijuana
and other drugs headed to the U.S. But recently, domestic consumption
has risen. A 2007 study by the government found the number of addicts
in Mexico to have doubled in the previous five years.

Drug abuse has grown worse in part because some of the cartels pay
their people with cocaine or other drugs.

Clinics and other institutions that specialize in treatment and
prevention have not kept up with the trend. The government is
building 310 centers to improve care, but experts say that is not enough.

The decriminalization legislation has been criticized by religious
leaders and several officials in the northern border states, who fear
that "drug tourists" will begin flocking to towns and cities already
besieged by violence.

"Allowing the carrying of certain amounts of drugs will create more
consumers," Oscar Villalobos Chavez, social development secretary for
Chihuahua state, which borders Texas, told local reporters.

An editorial in the official magazine of the Roman Catholic Church
criticized legislators for relaxing the law "when faced with the
highly contagious and lethal sickness that drug addiction represents."

Mary Ellen Hernandez, director of the Rio Grande Safe Communities
Coalition in El Paso, across the border from blood-soaked Ciudad
Juarez, said she worried that decriminalization would lure Americans
into a drug world they aren't prepared for and increase violence on
both sides of the border.

"Already, the drugs that don't come over into the U.S. are being
handed out by dealers to younger and younger children [in Mexico], 8,
9, 10-year-olds, hooking them," said Hernandez, whose agency
specializes in drug prevention. "And then [the youths] steal to feed
the habit."

The legislation "is very disturbing and I think it will make things
worse," she said.

Except for the relatively few voices, however, there has been minimal
protest over the law, and some praise.

Luciano Pascoe, vice president of the small left-wing Social
Democratic Party, said the law was a positive "first step" that
helped "shatter the stigma that consumers are criminals."

His party is running in next month's elections on a platform that
includes legalization of all drugs as a way to make trafficking less lucrative.

It is not known whether that position has anything to do with four of
his candidates being attacked in recent weeks. None was seriously injured.