Drug decriminalization bill passes Senate

Amid the flupalooza (or, as one political columnist called it, “influenza peddling”) the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate are still in session, and David Agren is still reporting on the doings at San Lazaro.  Perhaps it’s “truth in advertising” to see  legislators dressed like banditos — at least  putting on masks before the meet to rob the taxpayers.

But, they are managing to get work done.

One bill that has passed the Senate, and is headed for the Chamber would decriminalize possession of up to 5 grams of marijuana, 5 grams of opium, 50 milligrams of heroin, 40 milligrams of methamphetamine, 500 milligrams of cocaine and 2, 500 milligrams of cocaine.  PRD Senators stripped out an original PAN proposal from the Presidency that would have forced small time users to enter rehab programs.  The PRD proposal allows for volutary rehab (and, any rehabilitated user will tell you a person doesn’t recover unless they want to… and, the dirty little truth is that all narcotics users are not, ipso facto, addicts), but does mandate rehabilitation programs after a third conviction.

On the other hand, the bill — if it survives unchanged in the Chamber — will increase the penalties for possession with the intent to sell to a five to fifteen year prison sentence.

(By the way, important as this bill is, the bigger story is that democratic institutions are functioning despite of the health restrictions.  Those who criticize Mexico for not doing enough need to remember Mexico is not a dictatorial regime like China, nor an authoritarian state like Singapore that could ride roughshod over personal rights in the name of controlling the SARS epidemic, which still spread to other countries).