MEXICO CITY - Mexican President Vicente Fox will sign into law a measure that decriminalizes the possession of small amounts of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and other drugs for personal use…. Spokesman Ruben Aguilar defended the law, which was approved Friday by Mexico’s Senate, despite criticism in the United States.
That sound you just heard was me standing on my chair and applauding loudly. No, it’s not that I want to move to Mexico and go back to being a stoner, but given that this country’s “war on drugs” has been oh-so-successful, doesn’t this new approach make sense? I’m not about to advocate recreational drug use, though at one point in my life (There’s a time and a place for that, and it’s called COLLEGE) it certainly worked for me. Nonetheless, should it be the role of government to regulate and proscribe drug use? If your answer is “yes”, then what about alcohol and tobacco, which arguably are responsible for as much harm as any sort of recreational drug use?
Any reasonable person would admit that our own government’s never-ending “war on drugs” has been an abject failure. What else can you call a government enforcement effort that works overtime to deny medical marijuana to the sick, the infirm, and those in chronic pain? This country has spent billions so that politicians can claim to be tough on crime and drugs…and we end up persecuting senior citizens and cancer patients?? Give me a break. “Compassionate Conservatism” really IS an oxymoron….
I don’t know that the new Mexican law is the answer, but given the history of our own government’s efforts to ban recreational drug use, I’ve got to think that Vicente Fox’ government is the one making sense.
