MEXICO TRIES EASING DRUG LAWS

U.S. Leery of Move to Legalize Cocaine, Heroin, Marijuana

MEXICO CITY - Mexico's Congress approved a bill Friday
decriminalizing possession of small quantities of drugs for personal
use - including cocaine and even heroin - raising potential questions
about joint U.S.-Mexican anti-narcotics operations.

Mexican officials hope the move will allow police to focus on
large-scale trafficking operations rather than minor drug busts.

The bill, passed in the early morning hours by Mexico's Senate on a
53-26 vote with one abstention, has already been approved in the
Lower House of Congress and was sent to President Vicente Fox for his
signature.

"The presidency congratulates the Congress for approving the
reforms," said presidential spokesman Ruben Aguilar. "This law gives
police and prosecutors better legal tools to combat drug crimes that
do so much damage to our youth and children."

The bill also stiffens penalties for trafficking and possession of
drugs - even small quantities - by government employees or near
schools, and maintains criminal penalties for drug sales.

U.S. officials scrambled to come up with a response to the Mexican move.

Janelle Hironimus, a spokeswoman at U.S. State Department, said
"preliminary information from Mexican legislative sources indicates
that the intent of the draft legislation is to clarify the meaning of
'small amounts' of drugs for personal use as stated in current Mexican law."

One U.S. diplomat who requested anonymity said "we're still studying
the legislation, but any effort to decriminalize illegal drugs would
not be helpful."

Oscar Aguilar, a Mexico City political analyst, said Fox appeared
almost certain to sign the law - his office proposed it, and his
party supports it - and that he had apparently been betting that it
wouldn't draw much notice.

"That's probably why they (the Senate) passed it the way they did, in
the closing hours of the final session," Aguilar said. "He's going to
sign it . . . he's not going to abandon his party two months before
the (presidential) election."

Current Mexican law leaves open the possibility of dropping charges
against people caught with drugs if they are considered addicts and
if "the amount is the quantity necessary for personal use."

But the current exemption isn't automatic. The new bill drops the
"addict" requirement, automatically allows any "consumers" to have
drugs, and sets out specific allowable quantities.

Mexican officials refused repeated requests for comment.

The move could have an impact on the two countries' cooperation in
the war on drugs - or the vast numbers of vacationing students who
visit Mexico.

"No charges will be brought against . . . addicts or consumers who
are found in possession of any narcotic for personal use," according
to the Senate bill, which also lays out allowable quantities for a
large array of other drugs, including LSD, MDA, MDMA (ecstasy, about
two pills' worth), and amphetamines.

Some of the amounts are eye-popping: Mexicans would be allowed to
posses 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) of peyote, the button-sized
hallucinogenic cactus used in some native Indian religious ceremonies.

Mexican officials declined to explain how the law would work -
including whether drug use in public would be tolerated, or
discouraged by other means.

The law was defended by Mexican legislators - and greeted with glee
by U.S. legalization advocates.

"We can't close our eyes to this reality," said Sen. Jorge Zermeno,
of Fox's conservative National Action Party. "We cannot continue to
fill our jails with people who have addictions."

Ethan Nadelmann, director of the New York based Drug Policy Alliance,
described the bill as "a very good move," saying it removed "a huge
opportunity for low level police corruption." In Mexico, police often
release people detained for minor drug possession, in exchange for bribes.

Selling all these drugs would remain illegal under the proposed law,
unlike the Netherlands, where the sale of marijuana for medical use
is legal and it can be bought with a prescription in pharmacies.
While Dutch authorities look the other way regarding the open sale of
cannabis in designated coffee shops - something Mexican police seem
unlikely to do - the Dutch have zero tolerance for heroin and
cocaine. In both countries, commercial growing of marijuana is outlawed.

In Colombia, a 1994 court ruling decriminalized personal possession
of small amounts of cocaine, heroin and other drugs.

The effects could be significant, given that Mexico is rapidly
becoming a drugconsuming nation as well as a shipment point for
traffickers, and given the number of U.S. students who flock to
border cities or resorts like Cancun and Acapulco on vacation.

"This is going to increase addictions in Mexico," said Ulisis Bon, a
drug treatment expert in Tijuana, where heroin use is rampant. "A lot
of Americans already come here to buy medications they can't get up
there. . . . Just imagine, with heroin."

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IN SMALL AMOUNTS

Bill would legalize possession of:

25 milligrams of heroin.

5 grams of marijuana (about one-fifth of an ounce, or about four joints).

0.5 grams of cocaine - the equivalent of about four "lines" or half
the standard street-sale quantity.