Mexican Congress Passes Drug Decriminalization
June 26th, 2009 by Russ
Early this week, a major blow was struck against the modern War on Drugs. Faced with a unprecedented drug crisis threatening to spill over its already porous borders, the Mexican legislature decriminalized the possession of drugs intended for personal use.
Done relatively quietly because of a worsening Swine Flu outbreak, the Mexican lower house approved a measure that had already passed the Senate to allow Mexicans to carry up to five grams of pot, half a gram of cocaine, .04 grams of meth, and .05 grams of heroin. The bill also acts to eliminate mandatory minimum sentences for small-time drug dealers.
The bill now awaits the signature of President Felipe Calderón, which is expected to happen shortly. Though Calderón had gained a reputation as a staunch enemy of local drug cartels, he offered up the decriminalization legislature as an emergency measure to loosen the burden on Mexico’s prisons and overtaxed law enforcement.
According to Rafael Ruiz Mena, head of Mexico’s National Institute of Penal Sciences:
The important thing is… that consumers are not treated as criminals. It is a public health problem, not a penal problem.
The referred to public health problem has become a serious drain on Mexico’s resources. As we reported last month, the addiction rate in Mexico has increased by 50% since the violence between the government and cartels began to escalate. A fragmenting of the traditional cartel structure has flooded the Mexican market with cheaper, purer substances that have moved street level dealing and use out of any semblance of control.
It’s a shame that the situation had to deteriorate to this point before the Mexican government agreed to take steps toward adopting a more rational drug policy. Perhaps transitioning to a system that seeks to help non-violent addicts (instead of demonizing them) will restore the people’s faith in Mexican government, and stem the breakdown of Mexican civil society.
Frozen Sharks Are the New Drug Mules, Mexico Cracks Down
June 18th, 2009 by RickArmed officers of the Mexican Navy patroling the Gulf coast port of Progreso in Yucatan state seized a ton of cocaine on board a freight ship. X-ray machines and drug sniffing dogs helped uncover the smuggling operation, which stashed “slabs” of cocaine within more than 20 frozen sharks.
Mexican Navy Commander Eduardo Villa said:
We are talking about more than a ton of cocaine that was inside the ship. [...] Those in charge of the shipment said it was a conserving agent but after checks we confirmed it was cocaine.
On Tuesday the Mexican Navy revealed the largest methamphetamine lab in Mexico. Initially thought to be used to water a marijuana plantation, a holding tank, in the remote part of the northern state of Sinaloa, was discovered to feed water into two huge sheds, which contained ephedrine (12,905 gallons), a chemical agent used to make methamphetamine.
Officials claim that it was enough to manufacture 40.2 tons of material, which could equate to 309 million individual hits. That’s enough to give everyone in the United States one dose and still have 3 million left over. That was from one source. How many other high level operations are scattered throughout the country that are under the radar? Too many.
For this reason, Mexican President Felipe Calderon sent 45,000 troops and federal police to wage war with the cartels to try and stop the drug violence in his country. This year alone 2,700 people have been killed due to drug related violence, while last year 6,300 were killed.
President Obama should take note because the cartels have already crossed the border in numerous ways, which has brought their violence and drugs into the states. However, Mexico realized that the problem was not just the organized crime element, they discovered that prohibition wasn’t working. They had the fortitude and sense to go ahead and legalize personal amounts of various recreational drugs and stop populating their prison system with drug related offenses.
Mexico was given $1.4 billion by the United States to fund their war on the cartels. That money allowed to purchase the mobile technology used by the Mexican Navy. Many high level bosses have been already captured and many more are now being hunted down. Corrupted officials connected to various cartels have been uncovered. Cartel operations have been uncovered in all of North America.
- Cesar Gaviria
- , Decriminalization
- , Ernesto Zedillo
- , Fernando Henrique Cardoso
- , Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy
- , Legalization
- , Vincente Fox
Former Mexican President Calls for Legalization
May 15th, 2009 by RickA whirlwind tour of the three four amigos, ex leaders of Latin American nations, has blown in that calls for the decriminalization and legalization of marijuana.
On Tuesday, Vincente Fox told CNN:
I believe it’s time to open the debate over legalizing drugs. [...] It must be done in conjunction with the United States, but it is time to open the debate.
Former president of Mexico Vincente Fox, former president of MexicoErnesto Zedillo, the former leader of Columbia Cesar Gaviria, and the former president of Brazil Fernando Henrique Cardoso, are all members of the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy. In a February, at a meeting in Brazil, the organization wanted to change the policies with the war on drugs.
Gaviria said:
The problem is that current policies are based on prejudices and fears and not on results.
Cardoso said that their organization was only interested in legalizing marijuana and not all illegal drugs, citing that “you have to start somewhere”. Fox also says that since marijuana is predominantly consumed in the United States, Washington has to support any moves toward legalization.
Back in Febrauary, Gaviria said now is the right time to start the debate:
In many states in the United States, as is the case in California, they have begun to change federal policies with regard to tolerating marijuana for therapeutic purposes. And in Washington there’s some consensus that the current policy is failing.
Fox acknowledged the fact that the current President of Mexico, Felipe Calderon, has chosen to send in the army to battle the nation’s drug trafficking cartels.
If you go to war, you have to win it quickly and according to regulations. [...] Human rights are very important. [...] It also is important that the United States “accept its responsibility. [...] I would like to see some steps taken here in the United States. We see the drugs are coming across the border and are distributed in Atlanta and Washington and Chicago and all parts of the country.
Critics and opponents of their stance claim that the issue needs to be viewed at a global level, because they don’t want one area to be designated as a drug paradise. They realize that violence connected to the drugs may indeed by reduced but feel there would be some sort of social damage.
Mexican Senate Votes to Decriminalize Weed Posession
April 30th, 2009 by Russ
The Mexican Senate approved a measure Tuesday that would eliminate penalties for possession of several drugs, including marijuana. Proposed by conservative President Felipe Calderon, the bill would legalize possession of up to five grams of pot, half a gram of cocaine, and traces of harder drugs such as meth and heroin. The bill also would eliminate mandatory federal sentencing for small-scale dealers.
Following a nationwide debate on the efficacy of President Calderon’s escalation of violence against local drug cartels, several regional leaders have publicly supported a national policy of decriminalization. Former Presidents Ernesto Zadillo (Mexico), Fernando Cardozo (Brazil), and Cesar Gaviria (Columbia) all endorsed a return to progressive drug politics in the wake of a staggering rise in drug-related violence.
Succumbing to public pressure, Calderon proposed the legislation with the hopes of relieving some of the burden on local law enforcement, and allowing a more focused pursuit of high level drug traffickers. The bill awaits the endorsement of the Mexican lower house before it can be passed into law.
Obama Visits Mexico, Clarifies Stance
April 20th, 2009 by Rick
During a joint press conference last Thursday with Mexican President Felipe Calderón, President Obama clarified his stance on the war on drugs. He said that the goal of the American government and the Mexican government is to keep the drug and criminal activity in Mexico.
Obama even said something that everyone in the counter-culture scene needs to be weary of:
I will not pretend that this is Mexico’s responsibility alone. Demand for these drugs in the United States is what is helping to keep these cartels in business. [...] Are we going to eliminate all drug flows? Are we going to eliminate all guns coming over the border? That’s not a realistic objective.
Yet, a realistic objective is to keep the cartels and their drugs in Mexico.
Obama added:
What is a realistic objective is to reduce it so significantly, so drastically that it becomes once again a localized criminal problem, as opposed to a major structural problem that threatens stability in communities along those borders and that increases corruption and threatens the rule of law
That will be interesting to see. With an increase of technology and the profit that the cartels have achieved, they are now essentially mobilized armies able to topple fully-established governments.
In conclusion of the press conference, Obama claimed that they have targeted three cartels as significant foreign narcotics drug traffickers and with the help of the U.S. Treasury Department and Mexico, they plan to freeze the assets of the cartels and create sanctions.
Freezing their bank accounts will not stop them from starting over in another area of Mexico.
Mexican Congress Ponders Legalization
April 15th, 2009 by Russ
In the midst of its worst drug-related violence in decades, the Mexican Congress has planned a three day debate on the feasibility of legalizing weed. The talks are planned to conclude (not coincidentally) a day before President Obama arrives to discuss the future of American and Mexican drug war efforts.
Any move towards decriminalization would surely irk the American delegation, who have been repeatedly dumping billions of dollars into assisting Mexican military forces with their efforts to battle several incredibly well financed and entrenched drug cartels.
Dubbed “Plan Mexico” by its detractors, the plan has the US on the hook for over a billion and a half dollars in technology and training, with further provisions coming down the pipe including the delivery of several brand new Black Hawk helicopters. The debate will also chafe the sensibilities of President Felipe Calderon who has staked a reputation on a more violent and brute force-like approach to his country’s drug problems.
Alternatively, the debate comes with the blessings of three former presidents: Mexico’s Ernesto Zedillo, Brazil’s Fernando Cardoso, and Columbia’s César Gaviria. These leaders maintain that a decriminalization campaign could vastly reduce the income stream of cartels. It’s estimated that marijuana accounts for 60% of cartel profits. This speaks to the massive volume of Mexican weed in circulation given that Mexico is also the largest US supplier of both cocaine and methamphetamines.
Having already dismissed legalization proponents in his own country, a southward-bound President Obama may find a less receptive audience than he’s used to.
Mexico & U.S. Hold Hands, Promise Better Days Ahead
April 8th, 2009 by Rick
After two days of meeting with Mexican officials, Attorney General, Eric Holder said:
Cooperation between the United States and Mexico was stronger and fundamentally different than that which existed in the past.
Before meeting with the Mexican President, Felipe Calderón, AG Holder and Mexican Attorney General, Eduardo Medina-Mora, held an interview. Both admitted that the stakes were high for both countries in stopping the drug violence in Mexico. Both denied Pentagon reports that the drug war was pushing Mexico to becoming a failed state.
Mr. Medina-Mora said:
Mexico has never been a weak state. It is not today. It will never be in the future. We have faced even more difficult problems than this one. And it is relevant to put this in perspective.
Ironically enough, what is happening in Mexico already happened in Columbia with Pablo Esobar. He had either threatened or bribed his way to taking over the country. A group had turned into an army. At the time it was believed he was finally taken out by South American Security Forces, but it’s been known for some time that Delta Force had joined the hunt and managed to kill Escobar with a single sniper’s bullet. Escobar was taken out after he made the Forbes Billionaire list… ‘El Chapo’, a leader of the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico recently made that very list. May history soon be repeating itself?
He added:
What is at stake is the ability of Mexico to keep peace and tranquility for its citizens. That is why our objective is not ending drug trafficking. It is to remove power from these groups and remove their ability to seize and to kidnap our right to live in peace.
If their objective is not to end drug trafficking, then what is it? This is what keeps these organizations in business. If you cut them off from their drugs, then you cut them off from making money. It’s interesting to note that Mora was at one time the head of the CISEN, which is the Mexican equivalent of the CIA. If anyone should have intelligence that can lead them to the cartels, it’d be him. The timing of an American visit is not coincidental either, after a week that the Mexican President spoke out and said cartel drug money was going into Washington pockets.
AG Holder and and the Secretary of Homeland Security eventually met up with Mexican President Felipe Calderón. They talked about providing training to Mexican canine teams and enhancing coordination between the U.S. Coast Guard and the Mexican Navy. Apparently there is concern that by beefing up the land boarders, it will drive the illegal immigrants and drug smugglers to use the Pacific Ocean to get into the United States.
Ms. Napolitano said of the United States and Mexico, after the meeting with Mr. Calderón:
We are going to operate almost like a vise. We’re going to take out the cartels that have been plaguing our communities for far too long.
AG Holder added that they were sending 100 agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to the southern boarders to stop the sale of “straw gun purchases” in which a background check is conducted on one person and they in turn give the guns to others. AG Holder also snuck in a comment about marijuana sales central to the drug trade, and is exploring ways lower the minimum amount required for the federal prosecution of possession cases.
The reality of the level of cooperation that now exists is fundamentally different from that which existed in the past. The current Mexican administration was in a fundamentally different place, and the possibilities of cooperation, as a result, are substantially greater, and they will show results.
Great. Things are fundamentally different, we get it. After countless kidnappings and deaths attributed to the drug trade, along with countless drugs actually making it into the United States and more and more criminal organizations popping up all over the United States, you finally decided to change things.
Mora concluded the interview by saying that all federal agencies involved with investigating and enforcing laws on organized crime were being used by both Mexican and U.S. investigators. Mora said that the Mexican government was upgrading it’s law enforcement infrastructure and technology oversee officers’ activities and detect irregularities — which Mora claims may be caused by “technical reasons or because of corruption.”
Great. Now Mexico can develop into a police state just like it’s Big Brother. They can develop tools to combat the threat of organized crime but then at the same time keep an eye on their citizens. It’s amusing that Mora mentions corruption. What they need to do is find out who within their governments are pocketing drug money in both countries, arrest them, lock them up in the same prisons that they helped keep full, throw away the key and then start changing laws and going after cartels and ending their reign of violence once and for all.
Obama to Address Drug-Related Violence Near Mexican Border
January 27th, 2009 by Perry
In a break from the norm, Obama met with Mexican President Felipe Calderon to discuss violence and drug trafficking in his country. Since FDR, presidents have been severely scrutinized with what they do in their first 100 days, and expected to work on domestic issues first, especially in light of the nation’s economic woes.
The meeting is an indication of just how out of control the violence down there has become in the world’s No. 1 producer of marijuana.
The issue of violence south of and near the border however, was the No. 1 issue of national security people asked about on Change.gov.
