Mexico is the New Amsterdam

Via Slog:

Now that Mexican President Felipe Calderón is no longer under the thumb of the Bush administration he has approved a law decriminalizing possession of small amounts of several drugs, including marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, LSD, and heroin. The law also encourages government-financed treatment for drug addiction. From a New York Times article:

The law sets out maximum “personal use” amounts for drugs, also including LSD and methamphetamine. People detained with those quantities will no longer face criminal prosecution; the law goes into effect on Friday.

Anyone caught with drug amounts under the personal-use limit will be encouraged to seek treatment, and for those caught a third time treatment is mandatory — although no penalties for noncompliance are specified.

Mexican authorities said the change only recognized the longstanding practice here of not prosecuting people caught with small amounts of drugs.

Just in case you're already packing your bags, you should know the Times article indicates you can now legally posses 5 grams of marijuana, 1/2 gram of cocaine, 50 milligrams of heroin, 40 milligrams of meth, or 0.015 milligrams of LSD in Mexico.

But don't expect the US to follow suit any time soon. Yes ladies and gentlemen and the rest of you, countries like Portugal, which decriminalized the possession of all drugs in 2001, have seen declines in drug use among young people. Also, according to a Time article in April treatment for drug abuse doubled and rates of HIV infection from dirty needles shrank since the country started offering treatment instead of jail time for people caught with drugs.

No, in the US they're still listening to the people who say that it'll just make the problem worse. The same thing critics said in Portugal. The same thing I'm sure critics are saying in Mexico.