WEED WATCH: HOLD OFF ON THAT MEXICO ROAD TRIP

Cracking under pressure -- mainly applied by American Drug War
soldiers -- Mexican President Vicente Fox earlier this month withdrew
his support for a bill that would have legalized possession of small
amounts of drugs -- everything from marijuana to cocaine and heroin
- -- sending the bill back to Mexican legislators for some (pardon the
pun) "tweaking."

Praised by drug policy reformers, the thinking behind the bill was
that decriminalizing low-level possession would free up law
enforcement resources, both manpower and money, to combat the threat
posed by the ever-strengthening Mexican drug cartels (whose power has
been boosted in the wake of several high-profile arrests of Colombian
cartel honchos) that have been implicated in the increased violence
in Mexican border towns like Nuevo Laredo.

Nonetheless, the plan did not go over well in places like San Diego,
the United States' largest border city, where Mayor Jerry Sanders
blasted the idea as "appallingly stupid," and, reportedly, federal
officials then began a string of private meetings with Mexican
officials to discourage the legislation.

In a subsequent press release, Fox's administration said that the
bill would be sent back to Congress so that lawmakers could make the
"needed corrections so it is absolutely clear in our country the
possession of drugs and their consumption are, and will continue to
be, a criminal offense." The amended legislation has yet to surface.

In other news, from the Dept. of Really Bad Ideas, two Dallas-area
18-year-olds, Ian Walker and Joseph Tellini, are now facing multiple
felony charges of assault on a public servant for serving
marijuana-laced bran muffins to school office employees at Northeast
Dallas' Lake Highlands High School on May 16.

What began as a juvenile prank quickly became a bad trip when school
officials who'd eaten the muffins -- which Walker reportedly said
he'd baked as part of an Eagle Scout project -- began complaining of
nausea, headaches, and lightheadedness. That prompted the FBI to get
involved -- in the event that the illnesses were caused by
terrorist-related food supply contamination. While the inquiry failed
to turn up terrorist intent, chemical testing did reveal pot in the
pastries, sending Walker and Tellini to the pokey.

"They were just thinking it would be fun to get these teachers all
silly and giggly," 86-year-old school receptionist Rita Greenfield
told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "I do not think of this as a prank
at all. It has caused heartaches and hard feelings."

Greenfield spent two days in the hospital after consuming the muffins
- -- in part, reports The Dallas Morning News, because she "couldn't
stop laughing."