Mexico removes penalties against small-time drug use

MEXICO CITY — Mired in a bloody battle with major drug traffickers, Mexico is quietly eliminating jail time for possession of small amounts of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and other drugs.

The government of President Felipe Calderón says removing the penalties will help its fight against traffickers by freeing up law-enforcement resources, and shifting attention away from minor consumers to big-time dealers and drug lords. The law also provides for free treatment for addicts.

But critics say decriminalization sends the wrong message amid a drug war that has claimed more than 11,000 lives since late 2006. It will encourage consumption and add to Mexico's fast-growing ranks of addicts, opponents say.

With the law, Mexico joins a trend throughout Latin America to ease penalties for small-time drug use. But Mexico's law goes further than most because it includes substances such as heroin, LSD and methamphetamine.

The law, which went into effect last week, did not stir huge controversy in Mexico, and the U.S. has not publicly intervened against it. But officials in some states that border the U.S. are worried they will be flooded with American "drug tourists," seeking a penalty-free high.

That was not the fear Saturday on Tijuana's legendary Avenida Revolucion, the main tourist drag clogged with bars, restaurants and souvenir shops. Tourism has plummeted because of drug-fueled violence, economic crisis and the recent flu epidemic, but no one was predicting liberal drug laws would bring the tourists back.

"People who want drugs have always been able to just go down the street and buy them," said Adan Cardenas, a waiter at the Mystery Bar, where it's all-you-can-drink for $15.

Users caught with small amounts clearly intended for "personal and immediate use," and who are not known members of cartels, will not be criminally prosecuted. They will be told of available clinics, and encouraged to enter a rehabilitation program. Rehab is mandatory when a user is caught the third time.

The permitted amounts include 5 grams of marijuana and 500 milligrams of cocaine, and up to 40 milligrams of methamphetamine and 50 milligrams of heroin.

When the Mexican Congress approved a similar decriminalization law in 2006, then-President Vicente Fox was forced to veto it under U.S. pressure.

In April, when the new law was making its way through the Mexican legislature, Michele Leonhart, acting director of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, said legalization "would be a failed law-enforcement strategy for both the U.S. and Mexico."

Visiting Mexico in July, however, the United States' so-called drug czar, former Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske, said he would take a "wait-and-see" attitude.

There was no official announcement that Calderon had signed the law; it was merely published in the official government paper of record.

The law was approved by Congress in late April, at the height of the flu outbreak that had grabbed the country's attention. Many in Mexico applauded the legislation because it shifts minor drug use away from courts and jails and into the realm of public health.

In practice, minor consumption was rarely punished in Mexico and often left to the discretion of a court or an arresting officer — which in turn led to corruption when cops used the arrest to extort money from the offender. Fewer than 15 percent of people arrested for small amounts of drugs since late 2006 were ever charged with a crime, according to the Attorney General's Office.

But Mexico is also underequipped to deal with a growing domestic addiction problem. Government studies estimate the number of addicts in Mexico has doubled since 2002, and clinics and rehab centers can handle only a fraction.

Opponents include the Catholic Church and experts in social work, addiction treatment and at-risk youths. Permitting any use, they argued, implicitly condones the sale and purchase of drugs — and results in more earnings for the big cartels.