U.S. Cautious About Mexico Drug Measure

This is a welcome move; it's impossible to catch all casual users and the limited resources of the Mexican government should not be used for this purpose.

In order to prevent a flood of Americans to Mexico to buy and use these drugs, the US should introduce the same measures in the US, decriminalizing use by end users. These drugs should be monopolized, sold and taxed by the federal government; this would allow the government to make tax cuts in other areas permanent.

Chinawatcher, I disagree with you. The point of criminalizing the sale of drugs serves as a deterrent. Although many are not caught, some would-be drug users do not use drugs because of the potential to get caught. As you state though, the only safe way to do this is with strict government regulation. Keep in mind the troubles that the US currently has with cigarettes and the tobacco lobby's power in Washington. The drug business would have to be nationalized, and the government would have to decide on strict policies for the amount of consumption and the age to do so. Either way, this bill seems like a moral misstep, but a step in the right direction for law enforcement.

List of maximum allowable drug quantities approved for personal use by Mexico's Congress:

Opium: (raw, to be smoked): 5 grams

Heroin: 25 milligrams

Marijuana: 5 grams

Cocaine: 500 milligrams

LSD: .015 milligrams

MDA: 200 milligrams

MDMA (Ecstasy): 200 milligrams

Mescaline: 1 gram

Peyote: 1 kilogram

Psilocybin (concentrate, pure, active ingredient): 100 milligrams

Hallucinogenic mushrooms (raw, off the farm): 250 milligrams

Amphetamines: 100 milligrams

Dexamphetamines: 40 milligrams

Phencyclidine (PCP, or Angel Dust): 7 milligrams

Methamphetamines: 200 milligrams

Nalbuphine (synthetic opiate): 10 milligrams

SOURCE: Associated Press

ZDS, the problem with the deterrent is that it doesn't work, as any honest law enforcement officer will tell you. Sure, it makes the voters feel better to keep it illegal, and the elected officials pander to get the vote, but this is democracy at its worst. Billions of tax dollars are wasted, and there is no lasting solution. In the meantime, the large drug dealers prosper while the small guys get caught and do their time in jail. When they are released, it all starts all over again.

It's far better to have government-owned companies sell these drugs at regulated prices and use that money to fund the budget. You might ask if I think that the government should own the tobacco, liquor, gambling and prostitution businesses and use that income to fund the budget? My answer would be an emphatic YES! The income from that should be used to fund our fire and police departments, schools and teachers, so that everyone can benefit from society's vices and our own weaknesses.

From the article:

News of the decriminalization did not make the front pages of any major Mexico City newspaper, nor was it discussed in editorials. It was slightly better publicized in the north of the country, where turf wars between rival drugs gangs have caused hundreds of killings along the Mexico-U.S. border, but was still overshadowed by news about immigration.

Of course it made the news here and not there. We're a bunch of Puritan descendants that have to be in each other's business all the time.

I guarantee you that, if the World were high school, we'd be the kid that gets the eye-rolls between the other students every time we turn our backs to them. And the only reason we wouldn't get more wedgies for being the "nerd" is because our butt's too big to lift thanks to our "diet."

Oh, even better:

under a bill approved by lawmakers that some worry could prove to be a lure to young Americans

Uh, I guess "Alan Clendenning" of the AP doesn't get to many raves, clubs, back alleys behind mini-marts then I take it? Or, you know, live in this world? Note the use of the qualifier "some". That means, "I made this up."

Let's face it: Mexico is a $#!%hole. Oh, it's got some nice places for wealthy white people to visit, but it's still a $#!%hole. If it was awesome then we wouldn't be busy trying to keep them down there. If it was awesome then the US government would be bombing us a fifty-first state right now. Decriminalizing these drugs eases the pain of living in a $#!%hole. It may even serve as an incentive to stay. What's the problem?