独一无二, 无尽的爱

Interesting post found on Yahoo just now. Wonder how long before the government here approves such reform. After all, the Justice minister is the same guy who actively encouraged people to smoke pots in public a few years ago although possesssing/smoking pot is illegal. I should ask my Mexican friend about his views on this new law. I know he works near the US-Mexico border and is close to the ruling party there.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Possessing marijuana, cocaine and even heroin will no longer be a crime in Mexico if they are in small amounts for personal use under new reforms passed by Congress that quickly drew U.S. criticism.

The measure given final passage 53-26 by senators in a late night session on Thursday is aimed at letting police focus on their battle against major drug dealers, and President Vicente Fox is expected to sign it into law.

“This law provides more judicial tools for authorities to fight crime,” presidential spokesman Ruben Aguilar said on Friday.

He said the reforms, which were proposed by the government and approved earlier this week by the lower house of Congress, made laws against major traffickers “more severe.”

Under the reform, police will not penalize people for possessing up to 5 grams of marijuana, 5 grams of opium, 25 milligrams of heroin or 500 milligrams of cocaine.

People caught with larger quantities of drugs will be treated as narcotics dealers and face increased jail terms under the plan.

The legal changes will also decriminalize the possession of limited quantities of other drugs, including LSD, hallucinogenic mushrooms, amphetamines and peyote — a psychotropic cactus found in Mexico’s northern deserts.

Hector Michel Camarena, an opposition senator from the Institutional Revolutionary Party, warned that although well intentioned, the law may go too far.

“There are serious questions we have to carefully analyse so that through our spirit of fighting drug dealing, we don’t end up legalizing,” he said. “We have to get rid of the concept of the (drug) consumer.”