In Mexico, Ambivalence on a Drug Law

[groovedaddy]

TIJUANA, Mexico — Yolanda Espinosa’s eyes darted this way and that. Her hands trembled. For Ms. Espinosa, a cocaine and heroin addict in desperate need of a fix, a new Mexican law decriminalizing the possession of small quantities of drugs had a definite appeal.

“That’s good,” she said in her mile-a-minute speaking style. “Real good.”

But as someone fed up with her life in Tijuana’s red light district, where she and hundreds of other addicts live in flophouses and traipse through the streets in search of their next dose, Ms. Espinosa also had her doubts about what Mexico’s politicians had done.

“No one should live like I live,” she said. “It’s an awful life. You do anything to satisfy your urge. You sell your body. It ruins you. I hope this won’t make more people live like this.”

Ms. Espinosa’s ambivalence reflects her country’s. Under siege by drug traffickers, Mexico took a bold and controversial step last week when it opted to no longer prosecute those carrying relatively small quantities of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and other drugs. Instead, people found with drugs for “personal and immediate use,” according to the law, will be referred to free treatment programs where they will be considered patients, not criminals.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/24/world/americas/24mexico.html?th&emc=th

[Vincardog]

1. people found with drugs for “personal and immediate use, are not criminals End The War on Drugs

[Truthway]

2. ambivalance??

economic depression.. they are getting their folk high.. theyll do better us