Mexico set to decriminalise pot and cocaine

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » April 30, 2006, 11:06 am

The U.S. should do the same thing for pot at least.

Mexico set to decriminalise pot and cocaine

Fri Apr 28, 2006 7:09 PM BST

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Possessing marijuana, cocaine and even heroin will no longer be a crime in Mexico if the drugs are carried in small amounts for personal use, under legislation passed by the Mexican Congress.

The measure given final passage by senators late on Thursday allows police to focus on their battle against major drug dealers, the government says, 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. The measure was approved earlier by the lower house.

Under the legislation, police will not penalise 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 decriminalise the possession of limited quantities of other drugs, including LSD, hallucinogenic mushrooms, amphetamines and peyote -- a psychotropic cactus found in Mexico's northern deserts.

Hundreds of people, including several police officers, have been killed in the past year as drug cartels battle authorities and compete with each other for control of lucrative cocaine, marijuana and heroin smuggling routes from Mexico into the United States.

The violence has raged mostly in northern Mexico but in recent months has spread south to cities like vacation resort Acapulco.

Under current law, it is up to local judges and police to decide on a case-by-case basis whether people should be prosecuted for possessing small quantities of drugs, a source at the Senate's health commission told Reuters.

"The object of this law is to not put consumers in jail, but rather those who sell and poison," said Sen. Jorge Zermeno of the ruling National Action Party.

Fifty-three senators voted for the bill with 26 votes against it.

Zaelath · Post by **Zaelath** » April 30, 2006, 11:13 am

Pot has been decriminalised in Canberra for a long time, well before I moved here in '95, and we don't all seem to be laying around stoned all day.

I can see the reluctance to go that road with harder drugs, despite marijuana use not being any more prevalent here than other places (and a lot less than other places I've lived), but we do waste a lot of resources policing and jailing users.

Kylere · Post by **Kylere** » April 30, 2006, 12:06 pm

Legalizing Marijuana makes sense, not sure on Heroin or coke, but to each their own. Lower drug prices mean more dead junkies and less crime.

Zaelath · Post by **Zaelath** » April 30, 2006, 8:20 pm

Kylere wrote:Legalizing Marijuana makes sense, not sure on Heroin or coke, but to each their own. Lower drug prices mean more dead junkies and less crime.

Decriminalising drugs doesn't lower prices. Legalising them would, but then you'd find the supply would be cleaner and more reliable, and that leads to less "dead junkies".

Deward · Post by **Deward** » May 1, 2006, 11:28 am

They are going in the right direction with this but it won't work. 5 grams is just over 1/100th of a pound. I can't say off hand how many joints that makes but I can't imagine it being very many. Anything over that and you get charged as a dealer. You get caught with a dime bag (1/10th of a pound) and you are fucked and called a dealer.

I personally believe that Marijuana should be legalized adn taxed like cigarettes. Right now it is easier for kids to get pot than it is to get cigarettes and alcohol. Those laws seem to work fairly well in stopping underage buying at stores. That and the fact they bring in a shitload of tax money.

Sueven · Post by **Sueven** » May 1, 2006, 12:08 pm

A dime bag is not 1/10th of a pound. 1/10th of a pound is 1.6 ounces (~44 grams), which is a lot.

5 grams is a bit more than an eighth. Most people who don't smoke daily or deal rarely buy more than 5 grams at a time, although it does happen.

Post by **Sylvus** » May 1, 2006, 1:30 pm

Sueven covered it pretty well, 5 grams is plenty for personal use. In Ann Arbor, pot has been basically decriminalized for years, the magic number being a quarter ounce (7-8 grams?) I think. Possession of that amount is a Civil Infraction which amounts to a fine and no criminal record.

wikipedia wrote:On April 2, 1974, voters in Ann Arbor overruled the council’s decision by amending the city charter with the famous Section 16.2, which, in somewhat altered form, remains in effect today. The charter section reinstated the $5 civil-infraction penalty and prohibited city police from enforcing the more stringent state laws. The same day, the neighboring town of Ypsilanti adopted a similar measure. In adopting the charter amendment, Ann Arbor voters asserted that the provisions were necessary to ensure the "just and equitable legal treatment of the citizens of this community, and in particular of the youth of this community present as university students or otherwise..."

Part of Section 16.2 declared that no city police officer "shall complain of the possession, control, use, giving away, or sale of marijuana or cannabis to any other authority except the Ann Arbor city attorney; and the city attorney shall not refer any said complaint to any other authority for prosecution." In doing so, the provision effectively denied state courts the opportunity to declare the measure unconstitutional, as had occurred in 1972, since a test-case opportunity would thus never come before a state judge.

The fine increased to $25 (for first offense) in 1990, but the law is pretty much the same to this day.

miir · Post by **miir** » May 1, 2006, 3:54 pm

Deward wrote:They are going in the right direction with this but it won't work. 5 grams is just over 1/100th of a pound. I can't say off hand how many joints that makes but I can't imagine it being very many. Anything over that and you get charged as a dealer. You get caught with a dime bag (1/10th of a pound) and you are fucked and called a dealer.

Uh, I don't even smoke weed but I know for a fact that a 'dime bag' nowhere fucking close to 1.6 ounces.

The 'Dime' in 'Dimebag' refers to the price... as in there are 10 cents in a dime.. there are 10 dollars in a dime bag. And where do you live that you can buy 1.6 ounces of weed for $10?

I'm pretty sure that 1.6 ounces of weed can roll a lot of joints.

miir · Post by **miir** » May 1, 2006, 3:56 pm

Just asked a pothead here at work and a dimebag (in Torotno) is about 1 gram.

Truant · Post by **Truant** » May 1, 2006, 4:57 pm

you are correct mr. miir with regards to the definition of a dime bag.

If you guys go ask your hippy parents, there used to be nickelbags too, but that would be almost nothing now.

Xyun · Post by **Xyun** » May 1, 2006, 5:48 pm

Cocaine is as follows:

8 - ball: one eighth of an ounce - appx. 3.75 grams - around $150
teener: half an 8 ball (1/16th of an ounce) - appx. 1.75 grams - $80-90
grammy: 1 gram, bout 1/25th of an ounce - $60

but this is all 2nd hand knowledge because i don't do drugs

noel · Post by **noel** » May 1, 2006, 6:02 pm

Xyun wrote:Cocaine is as follows:

8 - ball: one eighth of an ounce - appx. 3.75 grams - around $150
teener: half an 8 ball (1/16th of an ounce) - appx. 1.75 grams - $80-90
grammy: 1 gram, bout 1/25th of an ounce - $60

but this is all 2nd hand knowledge because i don't do drugs

Assume a non-addicted recreational user, how long would each of those amounts last an individual?

Sueven · Post by **Sueven** » May 1, 2006, 6:18 pm

If you don't have any tolerance built up whatsoever, I'd expect that you could probably pull 10-15 lines out of a gram. However, it is at least possible to be a non-addicted recreational user with some tolerance, in which case those numbers would start falling quickly.

noel · Post by **noel** » May 1, 2006, 6:22 pm

Is 10-15 lines per gram like... one night's consumption? A week?

I have no knowledge at all so...

I'm kind of trying to understand the economics of it.

Gonzoie - Luclin · Post by **Gonzoie - Luclin** » May 1, 2006, 6:38 pm

I personally believe that Marijuana should be legalized adn taxed like cigarettes. Right now it is easier for kids to get pot than it is to get cigarettes and alcohol. Those laws seem to work fairly well in stopping underage buying at stores. That and the fact they bring in a shitload of tax money.

Id love to see that too since i live 10 minutes from delaware.. i buy cigarettes for 2.13 a pack..

I get Jersey gas, 2.78 atm.. Delaware cigs, around 2.00 a pack.. best of both worlds at the moment!

kyoukan · Post by **kyoukan** » May 1, 2006, 7:25 pm

there isn't really such a thing as a recreational drug user using anythign remotely like a set amount. I used to use coke maybe once or twice a month. I used to know people who'd do it maybe once or twice a day a few days per week. I'd still call that recreational because most of them don't need it and could probably stop if they wanted to.

you could probably toot up a line maybe three times on a friday night to keep your high going all night long. most people that I watch usually go for two or three lines at once, but that is totally fucking overdoing it. some people also snort fatter lines.

you do build up a tolerance to it though, to the point that snorting just brings you basically to the level of a person who doesn't do cocaine at all. it's not an expensive activity if you do it seldomly.

Xyun · Post by **Xyun** » May 1, 2006, 7:54 pm

When I used to do it hardcore, I would go through a teener every 4 or 5 days. But I also had friends that would go through a teener in one night. That is an insane amount. For most of the people I knew back then it was extremely difficult for them to quit doing it until all of it was gone.

I have had times when I myself would do a teener in one night, and it was crossing the line. I remember my heart would beat so fast and hard I could feel it through my chest, and sometimes I would get nose bleeds. In fact, my nose still has not fully recovered from the hardcore partying I did up until last year. Still, if you've ever seen the movie Blow, the guy talks about how he snorted something like an ounce in 10 minutes. How he survived is beyond me. It's been a while since I've seen the movie but I remember thinking that what he said was so outrageous that I thought it would be impossible.

But like Kyou said, you really can't set an amount. I'd say a gram is enough for two people for one night, but some of my friends would laugh at that notion.

kyoukan · Post by **kyoukan** » May 1, 2006, 8:19 pm

I read somewhere once that a regular size person can ingest about a gram and a half of cocaine before it starts to get dangerous. An ounce would be fucking suicide depending on what it was cut with!

Kylere · Post by **Kylere** » May 1, 2006, 10:10 pm

I am not surprised you are a cokehead

kyoukan · Post by **kyoukan** » May 1, 2006, 10:30 pm

lol drugs r bad boys and girls.

creepy fucking stalker.

Voronwë · Post by **Voronwë** » May 1, 2006, 11:45 pm

LOL weed was illegal in mexico???

Chidoro · Post by **Chidoro** » May 2, 2006, 1:12 pm

It's a pretty smart move if the concept is to curtail drug usage for these most widely used selections. You don't run someone through for having a recreational amount so you can spend your time on finding the dealers. You shut down more dealers due to using a greater number of resources to find them. Then the casual user has fewer places to purchase them from. If you are a hardcore user, you'll find it anyway, but if you fal into the curious category, you may never bother to try because there are fewer low-hanging-fruit dealers.

All that being said, there's such a stigma attached to it that it would never happen here. It's truly one of the most hypocritical enforced law on the books imo for pot.