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Another Reason for Mexico to End Its Drug War

2008 Dia Mundial de la Marijuana (Global Marijuana Day), March, Mexico City
Along with catalyzing devastating violence that has claimed 60,000 lives thus far, there's another good reason for Mexico to end its ill-fated drug war -- they are massively abusing the human rights of large numbers of their citizens. A report by the Center for Research and Teaching in Economics (Centro de investigación y docencia en económicas, CIDE) and the Research Consortium on Drugs and the Law (Colectivo de Estudios Drogas y Derecho, CEDD), highlighted on the Open Society Foundations Global Drug Policy Program web site, has found that most drug investigations in Mexico are for possession and consumption:

[I]n 2010, the crimes of possession and consumption accounted for 71 percent of all drug-related investigations initiated by the Public Prosecutor’s Office (Ministerio Público). Of all the rulings (convictions or acquittals) issued in 2010 for drug-related crimes, 18,343 -- 80.7 percent -- were for a single crime, meaning that no other crime was committed apart from the drug offense for which the person was sentenced or absolved.
 

The report also found disproportionate punishment for persons convicted of nonviolent distribution offenses:

[T]he maximum prison sentence for the crimes of production, commerce, supply, and trafficking of drugs -- all non-violent crimes -- is more than the maximum sentence established for violent crimes, including intentional homicide, rape -- both of minors and adults -- and robbery. The maximum prison sentence established for rape among adults is 11 years shorter than the maximum sentence established for drug offenses, and the maximum sentence established for robbery is 15 years, 10 years less than for drug crimes.
 

We see this kind of reversal of justice in the United States, of course, through the much-criticized sentencing guidelines and mandatory minimums. Mexico's public prosecutor's office does not seem more able or inclined to target its resources toward violent crime or the highest levels of the drug trade then the US Dept. of Justice does.

Of course in Mexico they have a full-blown crisis of drug trade violence -- prompting many Mexicans to call for legalization or at least a serious examination of it. So far the incoming president has vowed to continue to pursue the same strategies that led to the crisis, and it sounds like he has the full support of the prosecutor's office. But eventually things have to give.

Permission to Reprint: This article is licensed under a modified Creative Commons Attribution license.
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Too much harm...

These drug policies were enacted to protect public safety, but they are doing SO much harm.  At what point do you step back and understand that you are doing far more harm than you attempted to prevent?!  60,000 people DEAD because "the powers that be" think that people can't be trusted with drugs.  They think... I don't know... what?  That society would destroy itself?  I think we all know better than that, by now.  Alcohol is as bad as any drug, and the sky hasn't fallen on us since prohibition was repealed.  It's time to stop living the lie, and time to start going the route of compassion and common sense.

Yes some people will surely go over-board with drugs the same way some people go over-board with alcohol.  But the majority can use it responsibly, and quite frankly the current policies end up seeing a lot more minorities and lower class people targeted, as well as causing all of this carnage in other countries.  The war on drugs is literally a war, with machine guns, bombs, rockets, etc... it's easy to forget that simple fact.  But look at the strife in Mexico and Columbia, etc... it's a true war in the literal sense, and it's time to stop fighting that war because thousands of people are being lost and it isn't worth it!

protect public safety

There are several forces / motives / etcetera involved in cannabis prohibition.

Protecting public safety can only be considered as one of them if darkys, mexies, hippies, and all the tribes of "them" are excluded from the "public".

Which, curiously, appears to be the case. Divide and conquer. Scapegoat. De-humanize.

Qui Bono ? Qui Malo ?

 Reports that show

 

Reports that show Prohibition has failed: 

 

http://idpc.net/publications/failure-regime-selected-publications

 

The Global Commission on Drug Policy:

http://www.globalcommissionondrugs.org/Documents.aspx

 

Reports that show alternative approaches of decriminalization and regulation are working:


http://idpc.net/publications/alternative-strategies-selected-publications

 

What we can learn from The Portuguese Decriminalization of All Illicit Drugs:

http://bjc.oxfordjournals.org/content/50/6/999.abstract

 

General report on drug law reform in practice:

http://www.tni.org/report/legislative-innovation-drug-policy

 

Prohibition by Numbers:

http://www.drugpolicy.org/facts/drug-war-statistics

 

Final Report of the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy - "Break the Silence and Open A Debate":

http://www.drogasedemocracia.org/English/Destaques.asp?IdRegistro=8

 

Lessons for Creating Fair and Successful Drug Policies:

 

http://www.cato.org/pubs/wtpapers/greenwald_whitepaper.pdf

 

Transform's outstanding (free) book titled, "After The War On Drugs : Blueprints for Regulation" - provides specific proposals on how various drugs can be regulated in the real world:

 

http://www.tdpf.org.uk/blueprint%20download.htm

What is the big

What is the big misunderstanding ??....The main premise for the "war on drugs" or better termed the war on citizens....IS......the removal of their civil rights in order to institute a more efficient police state.

kantory

 

Kantory w sieci - to strona przedstawiająca wizytówki kantorów wymiany walut. Stworzyliśmy ja dla osób chcących wymienić lub kupić walutę po korzystnym kursie. Nasz wyszukiwarka kantorów zawiera  wizytówki kantorów z całej Polski ułatwiające Państwu kontakt. Dzięki nam bez trudu znajdziesz tu rzetelny kantor w swoim mieście. Nie ma znaczenia czy szukasz kantoru w Warszawie, Bydgoszczy, Częstochowie czy Katowicach. Dzięki przejrzystym metodom wyszukiwania, nie pochłania to dużo czasu.W doborze kierowaliśmy się opiniami klientów, historia istnienia i lokalizacją. Mamy nadzieję ze pomożemy w dokonywaniu trafnych wyborów

Private prisons.

Here in the States Privatized prisons are becoming big business. Ive heard in Mexico the prisons are like cities within a city. Are these prisons privatized? Will Mexico soon learn how much money can be made off od jailing non violent drug crimes, will they take after us.

 The privatized prison system is nothing but modern day slavery, making money off of the capture and detainment of humans for gain.

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