US cops stunned & upset over Mexico's new lax drug use laws

[Liberal_in_LA]

Mexico's new, lax drug laws worry cops in U.S.
Julie Watson, Associated Press

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Mexico now has one of the world's most liberal laws for drug users after eliminating jail time for small amounts of marijuana, cocaine and even heroin, LSD and methamphetamine.

"All right!" said a grinning Ivan Rojas, a rail-thin 20-year-old addict who endured police harassment during the decade he has spent sleeping in Mexico City's gritty streets and subway stations.

But stunned police on the U.S. side of the border say the law contradicts President Felipe Calderon's drug war, and some fear it could make Mexico a destination for drug-fueled spring breaks and tourism.

Tens of thousands of American college students flock to Cancun and Acapulco each year to party at beachside discos offering wet T-shirt contests and all-you-can-drink deals.

"Now they will go because they can get drugs," said San Diego Police Chief William Lansdowne. "For a country that has experienced thousands of deaths from warring drug cartels for many years, it defies logic why they would pass a law that will clearly encourage drug use."

Enacted last week, the Mexican law is part of a growing trend across Latin America to treat drug use as a public health problem and make room in overcrowded prisons for violent traffickers rather than small-time users.


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2009/08/27/MNQ019E4HC.DTL#ixzz0PPdaNfIO

[Pavulon]

1. Only the Chief, those who do real work

would probably do things other than fuck around with petty drug crime. Not like it is an ordeal to get weed these days..

[Rageneau]

9. Speak for yourself.

The farther away I get from high-school age, the tougher it gets to find pot. One result of the WOD is that America's children have easier access to drugs than adults do.

[Pavulon]

10. Cant help there :)

however problems tend to find solutions when a group effort is involved..

good luck.

[dysfunctional press]

36. i know what you mean...

if something happened to the one person i know who sells it, i would be extremely fucked.

[krispos42]

2. If it's legal, the drug cartels won't war over it.

There are not "thousands of deaths" from use, its the crime war over who gets to make the massive profits from selling it in violation of the law.

[redqueen]

5. It's not, though... only use is decriminalized...

the massive profits from the illegal trade are still there.

That's why decrminialization only improves overcrowded prisons / clogged courtrooms.

Full legalization is the only way to starve the cartels.

[krispos42]

11. Well, we're still buying their pot

So that's still there. But I'm assuming that people will start growing their own down in Mexico now.

Or maybe not... I bet the plants themselves are still illegal.

Ah, well. Progress takes time, I guess.

[redqueen]

13. Yep... it's a step in the right direction,

at least. :)

[Bluenorthwest]

19. Ah, you may be buying their pot, but speaking for myself it is

local only. Organic only. Break time!

[anigbrowl]

41. Don't be naive, there will be still be lots of money to be made on the supply side

I am totally in favor of this move by the Mexican government, but i you think it's going to just cause the illegal drug business to fade away any time soon you'll be disappointed.

[Turbineguy]

3. As opposed to laws

that are not enforced?

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. Perhaps we should pay attention to what Mexico is doing?

Maybe, just maybe, there's a good lesson there......for us.

I really approve of their move towards getting the violent traffickers.

[tridim]

26. Denver has had decrimed pot for a few years now (up to one ounce)..

and the city hasn't changed at all, we just have less non-violent users in jail and more happy citizens.

Why not use an American city as the model?

Even I'll admit that the medical marijuana side is a little odd. We have LOTS of MMJ patients here who smoke in public. Even so everybody seems really cool with the results. Some of my neighbors are a little freaked out with the half dozen or so medical grow houses in my neighborhood, but they're dealing with it just fine. I don't see any riff-raff hanging around which tells me these growers are obeying the law.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

39. Sounds good to me!

I hadn't realized that Denver had done this...

It's a smart move!

:hi:

[ixion]

6. end the f'ing 'drug war'

damnit!

[Vincardog]

7. OH NOES!!! How can they treat drug use (a public health problem ) as a public health problem?

Where will it end?
Will the Government finally admit it has no role in our bodies/behavior other than to pay for their
medical, psychological, Dental and vision care?

[endarkenment]

8. Somebody give the crybabies a box of donuts.

WHAAAAA!!!!


"Now they will go because they can get drugs," said San Diego Police Chief William Lansdowne. "For a country that has experienced thousands of deaths from warring drug cartels for many years, it defies logic why they would pass a law that will clearly encourage drug use."


Drug Warrior Idiocy In Full.

[Odin2005]

24. Puritanism: The fear that someone, somewhere, is having fun.

[redqueen]

29. lol

[Odin2005]

34. You're welcome!

:)

[Echo In Light]

38. Pineapple Express: "We've reached a decision on item nine; ILLEGAL!!!!"

[winyanstaz]

12. Yes and so should we all be upset.....

Because Mexico will make a lot of money on tourists and there will be more jobs and people that are not harming anyone wont be harassed and go to prison and people that are in pain or sick can get the herbal remedies they need. Next thing you know they will legalize it altogether and the drug cartels will be broke and the violence will be gone.
Heck we can't have that!
If we had that ourselves then that would mean jobs for Americans and less traffic tying up our courts and more room in the prisons for those that truly need to be locked away and people in pain wouldn't be buying the pills the pharmacy companies are pushing. The CIA wouldn't have drug money for secret operations and there would be less bribe money for the politicians. Worse than that...there would be factories opening up and futures for our kids so they wouldn't sign up to learn how to murder people for the war machine.
Dang! We need to nip this in the bud. :P

[Taitertots]

14. This is the narco bailout bill

Keep the pathetic addicts slaves to the drugs, while ensuring drug gangs have an unrestricted market.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

30. What the hell are you talking about?

There is absolutely no correlation between decriminalization and violent crime, nor is there any correlation between decriminalization and drug epidemics.

[Taitertots]

33. What are you talking about?

All decriminalization does is guarantee the drug gangs have an unrestricted market, and the peddlers have legal immunity.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

35. It's just like prohibition and the Capone-era gangsters.

Only no.

[Taitertots]

37. Even worse

Where are the drug gangs going to go?
They have an even bigger market now.

Why don't you tell Capone you are going to keep alcohol illegal to make, but everyone could buy and drink as much as they wanted.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

40. That's how it worked, genius.

[Taitertots]

43. No, thats how decriminalization works

What kind of fool thinks that you can stop drug gangs by making it legal for users but illegal to sell? All the dangers of prohibition, with none of the benefits of legalization.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

31. Delete. Dupe.

[Xithras]

15. You'd think the US cops would be HAPPY at the thought of drug tourism

"Smokin' the pot over there, so we don't have to smoke it over here"

[Warpy]

16. Mexico is way ahead of this country in a lot of ways

First, national health insurance. They can't afford to make it universal, but they're moving in that direction.

Now, more sensible drug laws.

People who run into trouble with drugs are a public health problem.

People who don't aren't a problem.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

17. Fuck 'em.

It's the job of the cops to enforce the laws, not decide what should and shouldn't be illegal.

[xultar]

18. Why? Cops outnumbered by the speeders to Mexico?

[sofa king]

20. Reminds me a little of what we used to say about Cuba.

It's a little before my time, but in the 1950s Cuba was, to American law enforcement, a notorious den of iniquity which allowed casino gambling and was a magnet for organized crime.

Then Castro took over and the organized criminals and their Cuban wet-boys came home, teamed up with the CIA, assassinated who knows how many people, possibly including a President, overthrew who knows how many governments, broke into Watergate in an attempt to steal an election, started selling cocaine while launching a spurious "war on drugs," and became good Republicans.

Funny how that works, isn't it?

[Bluenorthwest]

Upset cops just makes it all the better

and I wish they were literally stunned so that we did not have to be subjected to their whining. Poor things feel the net closing in on their scam. And they are upset, poor dears, just upset!
Hilarious.

[Jim Sagle]

46. Except for the upset cop on this thread. It's a drag to read his BS.

[Odin2005]

21. Stupid pigs.

[Echo In Light]

22. End America's fascist phony "war$"

[JVS]

23. Fuck the police

[krabigirl]

25. Screw you, cops.

[Lochloosa]

27. treat drug use as a public health problem and make room in overcrowded prisons for violent trafficke

Nothing else needs to be said

[Toucano]

28. Drug fueled Spring Breaks and Tourism

Sounds like a win-win to me!

:evilgrin:

[Umbral]

32. I bet any increase in traffic through San Diego wont have any local benefit at all. nt

[MellowDem]

42. If Mexico doesn't start selling the drugs itself...

none of their problems with violent traffickers will go away. If it's legal to buy as well as use, then traffickers only reason to be there will be to get the drugs to the US, which at the very least makes the job slightly easier for cops in Mexico at least.

[Hekate]

44. We just had a 90,000 acre fire that wouldn't have happened if pot were legalized in the US...

The authorities finally traced the source to a cooking fire for Mexican drug cartel members tending their gigantic pot farm in the tinder-dry national forest in Santa Barbara County.

Just *end* the "war on drugs," please, so Americans can grow their own and cut out the middlemen.

Hekate

[windoe]

45. Nice headline "US cops stunned and upset....'

I thought some of them tazed each other or something, in frustration.

[Saboburns]

47. They speak of drug fueled spring breaks as a bad thing

The fuckers.

[Union Yes]

48. When cops are granted legislative authority, I'll give a fuck what they have to say.