Mexico plans to decriminalize all illegal drugs
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador wants to decriminalize illegal drugs in in the nation, where drug-use rates have soared over the past decade and thousands die every year in drug-related murders.
The five-year policy outline wouldn't make drugs legal, but it would offer users treatment instead of punishment by redirecting "the resources currently destined to combat their transfer and apply them in programs — massive, but personalized — of reinsertion and detoxification," Obrador's policy statement read.
It's "generally positive" news for drug law reformation advocates like Zara Snapp of the Instituto RIA and the coalition #RegulacionPorLaPaz, though she told Marijuana Moment that some are concerned that the language of the law stigmatizes drug users, many of whom don't necessarily need treatment.
Obrador repeatedly called for reformation to the country's drug laws during his presidential campaign, with slogans like "Hugs, not gunshots." He says the decades-long "war on drugs" isn't working, and decriminalization paired with rehabilitation programs is the only feasible solution.
"Public safety strategies applied by previous administrations have been catastrophic: far from resolving or mitigating the catastrophe has sharpened it," his statement read, adding that "prohibitionist strategy is unsustainable."
https://bigthink.com/politics-current-affairs/mexico-decriminalization
= new reply since forum marked as read
