Mexico's Senate voted last week to decriminalize possession of small amounts of several illicit drugs, including marijuana, cocaine and heroin. President Vicente Fox is expected to sign the bill, allowing Mexico to focus law enforcement resources away from individuals possessing drugs for personal use.
 
The bill would permit possession of 5 grams of marijuana, 25 milligrams of heroin or 0.5 grams of cocaine for personal consumption. While the legislation would de-prioritize prosecution of individuals, it would maintain or strengthen penalties for sales and trafficking of drugs. Ruben Aguilar, a spokesperson for President Fox, said, "This law gives police and prosecutors better legal tools to combat drug crimes that do so much damage to our youth and children."
 
In addition to freeing law enforcement to focus more on serious drug-related crime, the bill would do away with problematic vagueness in the current law, which says drug possession charges can be dropped if a person proves he or she is an addict and is carrying the drug for personal use. Right now, the latitude to determine what constitutes "personal use" is at the discretion of law enforcement officials, a situation that promotes corruption. Because the new legislation specifies the amounts that qualify for prosecution, it would "go a long way toward reducing opportunities for police corruption and harassment in their interactions with ordinary citizens," said DPA executive director Ethan Nadelmann. "This is a major problem worldwide, including in the United States."
 
Nadelmann also encouraged the United States to follow the example set by Mexico and other parts of Latin America, as well as western Europe and Canada, which are all trending away from treating drug use and possession as a criminal problem. "Mexico is trying to make the right choices on law enforcement priorities; it’s time for the United States to do the same."