MEXICO CITY, April 28 (Reuters) - Mexico's Senate approved a bill on Tuesday decriminalizing possession of small amounts of narcotics for personal use, in order to free resources to fight violent drug cartels. The bill, proposed by conservative President Felipe Calderon, would make it legal to carry up to 5 grams (0.18 ounces) of marijuana, 500 milligrams (0.018 ounces) of cocaine and tiny quantities of other drugs such as heroin and methamphetamines. Mexico's Congress passed a similar proposal in 2006 but the bill was vetoed by Calderon's predecessor Vicente Fox, under pressure from the United States, which said it would increase drug abuse, but now is worried by the drug-related violence along its border. Calderon has staked his presidency on curtailing the escalating violence between rival drug gangs as they fight over smuggling routes to the United States, with violence spilling into U.S. cities like Phoenix and Tucson. Calderon was praised by U.S. President Barack Obama this month for his army crackdown in a visit to the Mexican capital and Washington is sending more agents to its side of the border to curb the flow of guns and cash to the cartels. Drug violence has killed 2,000 people this year across Mexico after 6,300 deaths in 2008. The bill, which needs to be approved by the lower house, also allows Mexican states to convict small-time drug dealers, no longer making it a federal crime to peddle drugs. Drug dealers are rarely convicted in Mexico as federal courts are saturated with bigger cases and local judges cannot interfere. Mexico's Congress convenes for a final session before its recess on Thursday but may call an extraordinary session given the outbreak of deadly swine flu in the country that has forced lawmakers to hold sessions behind closed doors to prevent further contagion. (Reporting by Miguel Angel Gutierrez, editing by Patricia Zengerle) Source: Reuters
better than nothing right? hopefully this will cut down on drug violence there, so just maybe, MAYBE, Obama will take a look at our drug policy more carefully instead of laugh at legalization...
Any step forward is a good thing. Everyone is complaining about the 5g but really how many people smoke more than 5 grams a session? Don't get me wrong it should be at least half an oz, but 5g would last me a month. I'm assuming there is nothing in the bill about growing your own?
Just do a micro grow lol. I saw one guy post a plant so small that the dried bud didn't even register on his scale.
5 grams would get me blazed. I have been smoking for 6 months now and I still have a very low tolarence. So this seems pretty good to me.
Ok either the article was very vague or i'm quite dumb. So it's legal to carry up to 5 grams BUT it's still illegal to grow it? If it's legal to carry it but it's illegal to grow it or buy it off a drug dealer, how the hell am I supposed to get it??
5 grams. Isn't that the amount the Netherlands allows people to buy? Anymore and coffeeshop cannot legally sell you weed. Seems a step in the right move.
cant you just keep going to other coffeeshops and getting the max amount? or just get a different person each time to buy it, so many ways around it anyways
i thought it was 3 grams per transaction? I'm not sure how many transactions you could do in one coffee shop tho
It's essentially just like USA style decriminilzation, although I don't think you realize how easy it is to get drugs in Mexico. If you ever go to Mexico City sometime, just walk downtown. You'll get approached probably 1-2 times per block if you look the stereotype. I believe it was Time or Newsweek where I read that the average Mexican dealer makes around $600 per hour.
I hear ya, I'm just saying that if 5 grams is going to be allowed I wouldn't be complaining, because it's 5 more than before, sure you can keep buying in bulk but you run the same risks as before, I would be heading to the weed store everyday if I had to though. That is what I heard on Digg when I first saw the story, I don't know that for a fact though.
Yes, 5 grams is the maximum that a coffeeshop will sell to you. And yes, you can just go to every coffeeshop and buy the maximum. But if you are walking around with an ounce or two and the police see that they are not going to like it. I doubt you would ever have a problem with the Amsterdam police but if they think you are an illegal dealer they will not take kindly to that.
After reading that i noticed that nowhere in the article does it state the age required to possess this, if not that be pretty strange how it works though also, kinda confusing