LdyLunatic
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Mexico City, Mexico: Mexican President Vincente Fox yesterday rejected legislation that sought to clarify the quantities of cannabis and other controlled substances that "consumers" may possess without facing criminal penalties. Fox abruptly abandoned his support for the measure after US bureaucrats at the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the State Department denounced the proposal, saying that it could promote "drug tourism."
As passed by Congress last Friday, the proposal set specific limits on the amount of cannabis (five grams) and other drugs allowable under federal law. Mexican law already exempts criminal penalties for those individuals who possess minor quantities of illicit substances for personal use; however, the law fails to define what amounts constitute personal use. As a result, police and judges must decide on a case-by-case basis whether to punish citizens caught possessing minor amounts of illicit drugs.
The proposed measure also authorized state and local police to enforce drug trafficking laws. Under current law, only federal police (about five percent of Mexico's law enforcement personnel) may arrest individuals suspected of selling drugs.
President Fox rejected the bill on Wednesday, stating, "Congress ... [needs] ... to make it absolutely clear in our country [that] the possession of drugs and their consumption [is], and will continue to be, a criminal offense." Officials from the US State Department and the White Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) had met with Mexico's ambassador earlier this week urging the President to "review the legislation and to avoid the perception that drug use would be tolerated in Mexico and to prevent drug tourism."
Fox said that he would send the bill back to Congress with proposed amendments.
In recent years, US officials have voiced similar disapproval against legislative proposals to liberalize marijuana and other illicit drug possession penalties in Canada, Jamaica, and Australia all of which eventually stalled due at least in part to US opposition.
As passed by Congress last Friday, the proposal set specific limits on the amount of cannabis (five grams) and other drugs allowable under federal law. Mexican law already exempts criminal penalties for those individuals who possess minor quantities of illicit substances for personal use; however, the law fails to define what amounts constitute personal use. As a result, police and judges must decide on a case-by-case basis whether to punish citizens caught possessing minor amounts of illicit drugs.
The proposed measure also authorized state and local police to enforce drug trafficking laws. Under current law, only federal police (about five percent of Mexico's law enforcement personnel) may arrest individuals suspected of selling drugs.
President Fox rejected the bill on Wednesday, stating, "Congress ... [needs] ... to make it absolutely clear in our country [that] the possession of drugs and their consumption [is], and will continue to be, a criminal offense." Officials from the US State Department and the White Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) had met with Mexico's ambassador earlier this week urging the President to "review the legislation and to avoid the perception that drug use would be tolerated in Mexico and to prevent drug tourism."
Fox said that he would send the bill back to Congress with proposed amendments.
In recent years, US officials have voiced similar disapproval against legislative proposals to liberalize marijuana and other illicit drug possession penalties in Canada, Jamaica, and Australia all of which eventually stalled due at least in part to US opposition.
