Mexico Appears to Be Crossing a Drug Rubicon
UPDATE: Vicente Fox backs off (HT Interested-Participant). I think in Spanish that would be “olividese por favor de él.” (”Please forget about it.”)
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No country would be this dumb, right?
Wrong (HT Hugh Hewitt):
Mexico to Allow Use of Drugs
Fox will sign the bill, one of the world’s most permissive policies, in a bid to curb trafficking. U.S. officials say it will lead to more addiction.
May 3, 2006MEXICO CITY — Mexican President Vicente Fox will sign a bill that would legalize the use of nearly every drug and narcotic sold by the same Mexican cartels he’s vowed to fight during his five years in office, a spokesman said Tuesday.
The list of illegal drugs approved for personal consumption by Mexico’s Congress last week is enough to make one dizzy — or worse.
Cocaine. Heroin. LSD. Marijuana. PCP. Opium. Synthetic opiates. Mescaline. Peyote. Psilocybin mushrooms. Amphetamines. Methamphetamines.
And the per-person amounts approved for possession by anyone 18 or older could easily turn any college party into an all-nighter: half a gram of coke, a couple of Ecstasy pills, several doses of LSD, a few marijuana joints, a spoonful of heroin, 5 grams of opium and more than 2 pounds of peyote, the hallucinogenic cactus.
Even if you’re in favor of legalization, I would think the sudden shift would be troubling.
I fail to see how the state’s sanctioning the creation of a vegetable class can be spun as a positive thing.
Suddenly the narcotrafficantes are solely our problem, not theirs. In Mexico their trade is now apparently legal, hence: no es nuestro problema.
Comment by eLarson — May 4, 2006 @ 9:48 am
Even if you’re in favor of legalization, I would think the sudden shift would be troubling.
I’m strongly in favor of drug policy reform. I’ve acknowledged that such reform would affect me. I find such sudden shift troubling. I belief that the most important shift required to minimize the impact of decriminalization is the development of a culture of moderation.
By the way, the listed decriminalized quantities do not make much sense. A kilo of peyote is over 100 doses, more than I would think are consumed at the small services I’ve seen described.
Comment by triticale — May 4, 2006 @ 7:53 pm
#2 The culture of moderation point is good. Re doses, I wouldn’t know, but on further review, two pounds of anything would seem to be a lot.
Comment by TBlumer — May 4, 2006 @ 9:05 pm