Pubdate: Fri, 21 Feb 2014
Source: Guardian, The (UK)
Copyright: 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited
Contact:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardian/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/175
Author: Jo Tuckman

LEGISLATORS' MOVE WILL ENCOURAGE MEXICO TO EXPERIMENT WITH DRUGS

Mexico City - Deep in the heart of the Tepito  the traditional home 
of Mexico City's black market  Juan, a marijuana dealer, says: "Sure, 
you make money in this business. But it is a very stressful job."

That job might be heading for a big transformation after left-wing 
legislators tabled measures to relax regulations on marijuana 
possession and sale in the capital, as well as proposals for federal 
reforms that could increase permitted quantities and encourage other 
states to follow suit.

The initiatives, proposed by the Party of the Democratic Revolution - 
which governs in the capital and represents the third force in the 
federal congress - are the latest example of a region-wide rethink of 
prohibition. In December, Uruguay's parliament approved a bill to 
legalise and regulate the sale and production of marijuana, while in 
the US Washington and Colorado states recently legalised the sale of 
cannabis under licence.

The Mexican version brings the debate to a country battered by 
extreme violence unleashed by the government's attempts to take the 
war to the drug cartels.

"Seventy thousand dead, 26,000 disappeared, and an incalculable 
number of internally displaced are more than sufficient reason to 
look for an alternative model," federal congressman Fernando 
Belaunzaran told reporters this week.

Current federal legislation allows people to carry up to 5g of 
marijuana (about four joints). In practice those caught with even 
these amounts are only released after being booked by police, which 
carries with it a serious risk of criminalisation and extortion by 
corrupt officers.

If approved, the new rules in the capital would pave the way for 
regulated marijuana dispensaries. The capital's progressive 
reputation, having already legalised abortion and gay marriage, 
suggests the local legislation has a good chance of getting on the 
books. The initiative proposes raising the limit to 30g, opens the 
possibility for defining marijuana as medicinal, and gives states 
more freedom on how to apply these rules.

Alejandro Madrazo, an academic who helped draw up the initiatives, 
said: "If we are able to move consumers into tolerated spaces then we 
can expect to start draining the black market."

He plays down claims about the potential to curb violence by 
stressing that the capital has been relatively free of the horrors 
common elsewhere. Even so, the local drug market has been blamed for 
some horrific crimes, including the abduction of 13 young people in 
May last year from an after-hours bar in a business district.

A poll of Mexico City residents in the newspaper El Universal showed 
only 16% approved of raising permitted possession to 30g, though more 
than half liked the idea of regulated dispensaries.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom