Mexican President Proposes Decriminalizing Drug Use
We covered this in The Drug War Chronicle, but I think it needs more discussion:
Where shall I begin?
1. President Calderon himself has endorsed this. He is the golden boy of the U.S.-subsidized Mexican drug war and after accepting our financial support, he now does something certain to enrage the American Drug Czar.
2. Calderonâs predecessor, Vicente Fox, tried the same thing and backed down due to pressure from Washington, D.C. Now that Calderon has established his drug war credentials, heâs picking up where Fox left off. Obviously, Mexico intends to decriminalize simple possession and wonât stop until it is done.
3. The timing of this move appears designed to circumvent negative attention from Washington, D.C., which is horribly distracted right now for obvious reasons. Iâve been unable to find a response from the Drug Czar or anyone else. Amazing.
Mexico is plagued by drug trade violence, the likes of which weâve never seen within our borders, and its political leadership is calling for an end to petty drug arrests. It wonât end the bloodshed â not even close â but it is a dramatic shift away from the U.S. drug war mentality that we must continuously pursue and arrest drug users in order to "win" the war on drugs. This is remarkable to say the least.
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican President Felipe Calderon, locked in a bloody battle with drug cartels, wants to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of street drugs in a plan likely to irk Washington.
Calderon, a conservative in power nearly two years, sent a proposal to Congress on Thursday that would scrap the penalties for drugs including cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, opium and marijuana.
â¦
Under Calderon's plan, people carrying up to 2 grams (0.07 ounces) of marijuana or opium, half a gram of cocaine, 50 milligrams of heroin or 40 milligrams of methamphetamine would face no criminal charges.
Where shall I begin?
1. President Calderon himself has endorsed this. He is the golden boy of the U.S.-subsidized Mexican drug war and after accepting our financial support, he now does something certain to enrage the American Drug Czar.
2. Calderonâs predecessor, Vicente Fox, tried the same thing and backed down due to pressure from Washington, D.C. Now that Calderon has established his drug war credentials, heâs picking up where Fox left off. Obviously, Mexico intends to decriminalize simple possession and wonât stop until it is done.
3. The timing of this move appears designed to circumvent negative attention from Washington, D.C., which is horribly distracted right now for obvious reasons. Iâve been unable to find a response from the Drug Czar or anyone else. Amazing.
Mexico is plagued by drug trade violence, the likes of which weâve never seen within our borders, and its political leadership is calling for an end to petty drug arrests. It wonât end the bloodshed â not even close â but it is a dramatic shift away from the U.S. drug war mentality that we must continuously pursue and arrest drug users in order to "win" the war on drugs. This is remarkable to say the least.
FDA Embraces Harm Reductionâ¦Sort of
Check out this interesting logic from the FDA:
WASHINGTON - A top government health official rejected the idea of an immediate ban on cough and cold medicines for young children, saying it might cause unintended harm.
Food and Drug Administration officials at a public hearing Thursday said they need to gather more data on whether over-the-counter remedies are safe and effective for children ages 2 to 6.
The FDA is also worried that a ban â as sought by leading pediatricians' groups â might only drive parents to give adult medicines to their youngsters. [MSNBC]
Well, that sounds like a logical concern. People tend to make safer choices when available and more dangerous ones when their options are restricted. Yet federal law still blocks funding for needle exchange and criminalizes people who use marijuana as an alternative to powerful opioid-based pharmaceuticals.
                                                                                                                                                                             {Thanks, Caryn]
How Come "Joe Sixpack" is an American Hero, While "Joe Stoner" Gets Arrested?
Paul Armentano at NORML points to Sarah Palin's glorification of "Joe Sixpack" in the vice presidential debate. Indeed, one could scarcely overstate the naked hypocrisy of portraying daily drinkers as American heroes, while our nation continues to arrest nearly a million Americans each year for using marijuana.
I usually leave the alcohol analogy alone, assuming that it often speaks for itself, and when it doesnât, the guys at SAFER can be counted on to point it out. But there are moments -- like hearing a major party VP candidate canonize alcohol users in a massively public forum â that remind us how truly discriminatory and fundamentally illogical this disparity is. If regulated sale is the best policy for alcohol, then it is the best policy for marijuana. And if people who drink a sixpack after work can be American heroes, so too are those who derive pleasure and relaxation from cannabis.
(This blog post was published by StoptheDrugWar.org's lobbying arm, the Drug Reform Coordination Network, which also shares the cost of maintaining this web site. DRCNet Foundation takes no positions on candidates for public office, in compliance with section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, and does not pay for reporting that could be interpreted or misinterpreted as doing so.)