BRAZIL'S CARDOSO SIGNS PARTS OF ANTI-DRUGS MEASURE

BRASILIA, Brazil, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Brazilian President Fernando Henrique
Cardoso on Friday signed into law an anti-drugs bill aimed at cracking down
on traffickers but rejected parts that would have eased penalties faced by
users.

Cardoso vetoed some 30 percent of the bill -- approved by Congress in
September after 10 years of debate -- because it was unconstitutional,
Alberto Cardoso, the president's top security adviser, told a news conference.

Cardoso said the president was set to send another measure to Congress that
would maintain the essence of the original bill that sought to keep drugs
users out of jail by giving them alternative sentences such as community work.

"The Brazilian government's philosophy ... is a reduction in demand and a
reduction in supply, heavily repressing traffickers while treating users as
people with an illness who need to be attended to, not as criminals,"
Cardoso said.

Recreational drug users in Brazil had heralded the bill because it would
have replaced a current law under which marijuana smokers could get the
same penalties as people caught with a pound (0.45 kg) of cocaine.

Some drugs specialists had pointed to flaws in the bill, saying parts of it
not only violated the Constitution but also lightened sentences on
traffickers instead of stiffening them.

Despite the vetoes, Alberto Cardoso said the law was "an important step on
the road to having an effective anti-drugs policy in Brazil."

Only a decade ago, Latin America's most populous country was a mere
stopover on the cocaine trail from the Andes to Miami, New York and London.
Now Brazil has turned into an increasingly voracious consumer and powerful
drugs gangs control parts of its biggest cities.

The U.N. Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (UNCPD) estimated
that 900,000 Brazilians used cocaine in 2000. Some experts even say Brazil
has become the world's No. 2 cocaine consumer after the United States,
although Brazil vehemently rejects that claim.

The president vetoed some of the articles because they failed to specify
the length of alternative sentences. Another vetoed article would have
permitted jailed traffickers to move out of maximum security facilities
after having served a third of their sentence.

The new law will go into effect in 45 days. By then Congress should have
approved the president's substitute proposal, Cardoso said.

Until then, Brazil's law that sends drug users to jail for six months to 2
years will stand.