After years of warfare between authorities and rivaling drug cartels, Mexico has taken a progressive stand towards stopping the bloodshed by legalizing limited personal drug use. The effort may help save the Mexican government quite a bit of money on catching and penalizing drug users, which may free up more resources to battle the mafioso’s themselves.
How this will affect drug importations into America, particularly San Diego, has yet to be seen, but it may make defense strategies easier for drug offenders and their San Diego criminal lawyers.
While many other countries have moved to legalized marijuana, even California has been discussing the idea in an effort to raise tax money, Mexico has legalized the use of all types of drugs, including cocaine, LSD, heroin and more. The only other country to have legalized this spectrum of drugs is Portugal. Public consumption and large quantities are still explicitly illegal.
When this same initiative was attempted in 2006, San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders called the proposal “appallingly stupid.” Three years later though, things have changed. US authorities have so far issued nothing but praise for the government as it wages war with cartels:
“We know that Mexican law enforcement authorities are continuing their efforts to target drug traffickers,” Department of Justice spokeswoman Laura Sweeney said Friday. “Our friends and partners in Mexico are waging an historic battle with the cartels, one that plays out on the streets of their communities each day.”
For more information on this historic decriminalization law, please read the rest of the article in the Cristian Science Monitor. Photo Via Christian Frausto Bernal [Flickr]
A recent Supreme Court decision has already been resulting in an increased number of acquittals in drug and dui cases. The decision from Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts says that prosecutors must present a lab analyst for cross-examination in order for forensic evidence to stand in court. Prior to this decision, prosecutors were permitted to enter a paper lab report as suitable evidence.