Mexico: Marijuana Decriminalization Bill Introduced
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.
[inline:elsaconde.jpg align=left caption="Elsa Conde"]The bill is the first of a proposed four-part package that will also include legislation on industrial hemp, medical marijuana, and the rights of consumers.
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.
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Now...
if they can just keep the US government out of this they'll be on their way....
maybe deputy conde could try this tactic....the hemp industry could provide good jobs to mexicans and therefore they would not need to illegally immigrate to the US...the US then keeps "undesirables" out, mexico stops hemorrhaging it work force, the peso becomes stronger...if the hemp industry became large enough (and given its many many many uses it could be gigantic) mexico would no longer need the "hundreds of millions of dollars in US assistance" because mexico will have generated it own hundreds of millions and can tell the US to well f-off...of course this means people in the US will have to clean their own toilets (haha)!
toilets?
Even when I made good money, no one was ever hired to clean up the dirty toilets at my house! Maybe the hemp could be made to produce ethanol. Then, they could sell it to the US. Then, maybe more of our corn, being used, here, to make ethanol, now, could be used to feed cattle. Then the beef prices would stop going up! Wow, more real meat for supper!
Mexican decriminalization of MJ
Were Mexico to legalize, tax and regulate MJ, it would have more money to improve infrastructure, enhance tourism as it has in Holland and rip the guts out of the narcotraficantes. ¡Viva Mexico!
Decrim in Mexico
There is not a joints chance at a rock concert that this bill will go anywhere.
Almost all of the corruption in Mexico is fueled by drug money; pro forces and anti-drug forces fund this corruption.
The drug dealers pay off politicians and local law enforcement, and then the U.S. funds the counter drug offensive which lines the pockets of these same and similarly positioned individuals. Conflict of interest; yes, profitable; very very.
Even if pot was legal and taxes were being levied, legal jobs were being created, etc., crime syndicates would still be making the lions share of the money and people would still be getting victimized.
I know I would love to have drug use issues resolved on a more intelligent level, but with all the money that is to be made by keeping these much in demand products out of your local Walmart's pharmacy, it's not likely to happen in the near future.
So if you got 'em smoke 'em. Better yet grow your own and lobby your political powers to allow you to do so w/o any negative repercussions.
Is a really nice utopy
I think this bill is something that Mexicans are ready for. But I don't think the government would allow this to happen, even if they gather 1 million signs for the bill, the court won't let that happen. Not with this president and his whole administration, he is more pro-USA right-wing best-friend-of-Bush that our last president. So I don't see how this could happen.
I think it's time for us to make a move and show that this is what we want, regulation and legalization. Or at least stop the Mexican DEA.
And the idea of growing your own weed is for now the best you can do, this way you don't give money to Narcos.
Do not support the narcos-grow your own
Hoping for decriminalization, however, To ease the restrictions on canniabus use by private citizens would disrupt the big business of "INCARCERATION". Pot smokers are the best prisioners, we are "mellow MAN>>>>>>>", in fact---non violent drug offenders are the cash crop of this new millenium!!!!.
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