A bill that would remove the threat of jail from marijuana consumers was introduced in the Mexican congress late last month. Introduced by Social Democratic Alternative Party Deputy Elsa Conde after being developed in working sessions with a group of marijuana experts and activists known as Grupo Cañamo, the copy of the bill presented to congress was written on hemp paper.

Elsa Conde

The bill would reform the penal code so that, while marijuana use remains illegal, it would be punished not by jail time but with "informative and educational" sanctions that would protect the health and freedom of users without exposing them to "our deficient penitentiary system," Conde said.

The limit proposed for possession is a relatively stringent two grams. The bill would also allow for up to three plants.

The bill, said Conde, would also "contribute to the battle against organized crime by focusing on those who profit from the trade," not consumers.

"We are looking to decriminalize a debate largely suppressed in our society and we appeal for a critical, scientific, and unbiased examination of a plant that, without being innocuous, has never represented a serious public health problem and that nobody, ever, has suffered a grave harm to his health by consuming it occasionally or habitually, not even by abusing it -- a quality that many other substances, including legal ones like alcohol and tobacco, lack," said Deputy Conde as she introduced the bill. "To sum up, we recognize that, eventually, the use or abuse of marijuana could represent a public health problem, but what is most harmful to our society is the policy of absolute prohibition. Keeping this in mind, we call on the legislature, the executive branch, and our society to assume the task of reducing the harm as a shared responsibility."

While proponents of the bill claim it has public backing, the prospects for rapid passage appear to range from slim to none. Conde is one of only four Alternative members seated in Mexico's 500-member congress, and while members of all of the big three political parties have expressed interest in marijuana law reform, that is still a minority position within those parties. Still, as the government of President Felipe Calderon prepares to gear up its war on drugs with an infusion of hundreds of millions of dollars in US assistance, it is heartening to see some evidence of a counter-current.