Despite New Drug Law, Mexico Is No Amsterdam

On Friday, Mexico removed most of the criminal penalties for possessing small quantities of illicit drugs such as cocaine, marijuana, and heroin

Portugal is the only other country that has “legalized” several types of drugs, according to the Houston Chronicle.

But this policy change is not as dramatic as some make it out to be.  Selling even small amounts of the drugs under Mexico’s new law remains illegal.

Drug Tourism. Unlike in 2006 when Mexico stopped just short of enacting a similar law, there has been little outcry so far about the decriminalization approach encouraging “drug tourism.”

Maybe this is because most people realize that buying recreational drugs from members of Mexico’s drug cartels is far more dangerous than ordering some hash at a coffee house in Amsterdam.   Over 11,000 people have died in Mexico’s drug war since Felipe Calderon took office in 2006, the New York Times reported.

Norml makes the case on its blog for why it believes Mexico’s new law stops short of legalizing marijuana:

The private possession of cannabis in quantities under “four joints” will no longer be a criminal offense, but the marijuana will continue to be classified as contraband (and therefore seized by police), and the user will be strongly urged to seek drug treatment (or coerced to do so if it is one’s third ‘offense.’)

Mexico’s  approach with respect to marijuana isn’t so different from what several U.S. states are doing.  Thirteen states in the U.S. have decriminalized possession of personal quantities of marijuana, Allen St. Pierre, executive director of Norml told the Chronicle.

By opting not to prosecute casual drug use, Mexico is  following the approach recently adopted by some other Latin American countries. Last year, courts in Argentina and Brazil ruled that possessing drugs for personal use was not a criminal offense, the Wall Street Journal reported. The same article noted that Ecuador President, Rafael Correa pardoned hundreds of low-level drug couriers known as mules.

Hopefully, the U.S. will learn something from its southern neighbors. In an earlier post, I wrote about how the U.S.’s drug policy has been condemned by both sides of the political spectrum.

Photo by joseloya (Via Creative Commons)