Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua - Speaking at the opening of the second forum in the national debate on the use of marijuana, focused on the theme of "Ethics and Human Rights", Secretary of Government Relations Miguel Angel Osorio Chong called for "expanding the decriminalization" of drug users. That is, the focus should be on arresting drug traffickers rather than prosecuting users.
MV Note: In November 2015, the First Chamber of the Mexican Supreme Court of Justice granted an injunction to four persons who had applied, as a test case, to the Federal Commission for Protection Against Health Risks (COFEPRIS) for permits to grow marijuana for their personal consumption. The court ordered COFEPRIS to issue the permits on the grounds that prohibition of such violated the constitutional right to the free development of personality.
For the decision to be generally applicable, the First Chamber needs to resolve consecutively four other similar amparos, also with four favorable votes. COFEPRIS recently announced that it has received over 200 more requests for pemits since last December and that it will reject them, which will lead to more appeals to the Supreme Court. All of this led to government to organize a national debate on marijuana, to conclude by the end of March. Congress is also holding hearings on the issue.He warned that federal prisons are overcrowded with youth sentenced for drug dealing (60 percent of all inmates). In the case of women-nearly all mothers-this percentage is more dramatic, rising to 80 percent. The vast majority were apprehended in non-violent situations, without carrying weapons; however, they are serving disproportionate sentences.
Of all inmates in federal social rehabilitation centers [prisons], in 41 percent of the cases involving marijuana, the value of the substance they possessed was less than 500 pesos [US$27 at current exchange rates]. This has resulted in an exponential increase in the prison population, he warned.
While, since 1994, consumption [but not possession] ceased to be a crime, the secretary said the same should be done with possession, transport and personal use of drugs. While careful not to take a position on increasing the legally permitted level for possession of drugs, he said that while in Mexico the limit for cannabis is five grams [.18 oz.], in other regions of the planet it is much higher (up to 28 grams [1 oz.]). For cocaine, the ratio allowed in our country is half a gram [.02 oz] , while one gram [.04 oz] is accepted as a global trend.
The secretary said that it is therefore necessary that legislators address the specifics and close the gaps in the standard, because in many cases a subject is tried for drug dealing when, in reality, he is a consumer or holding a supply for the immediate future.
"It has to do with having clear legislation that will not lead to misinterpretation (...) we must ask whether the regulatory framework for control of illegal substances is the best. Or if, instead, there are inconsistencies that have not enabled putting an end, in practice, to the criminalization of consumers," he said.He pointed out, as he did in the first forum, the need for progress in the prevention of crime and drug addiction. Regarding fundamental rights and ethics, he said that everyone should fully enjoy the freedoms established in the Constitution [this includes the right to personal self-development on which the First Chamber of the Supreme Court based its ruling that growing and possessing marijuana for personal use could not be prohibited].
Also speaking at the forum, Luis Raúl González Pérez, president of the National Commission of Human Rights, warned that in the debate on drug use must address not only the external manifestations of this phenomenon, but also its root causes. Similarly, it must reconcile individual and collective dimensions, not turn its back on a reality that challenges society and understand the problem. He also said it is important to review the rules allowing for medicinal or therapeutic purposes [there currently are no such laws in Mexico], and achieve, in a real and effective manner, that the consumer is not criminalized and persecuted.
"Hopefully the public debate on marijuana will give rise to a general review of drug policy in our country in the light of human rights as well as the factors that have allowed or facilitated arriving at the current state of affairs that we live in," he said.The ombudsman noted that discussion of the problem can not be seen as something incidental or secondary, but as a real need that demands urgent attention.
The forum was attended by federal and state officials, as well as lawyers and academics from various fields. The findings of the forum will be delivered to Congress.
In this regard, Roberto Campa, Undersecretary of Government Relations for Human Rights [who is managing the forums], said the secretariat is already in talks with lawmakers [who are holding their own hearings on marijuana regulation], so that the cluster of proposals resulting from these regional meetings can be "harmonized", resulting in the eventual generation of reforms of the laws. Spanish original