Mexico Watches California Marijuana Vote

MEXICO CITY — In two weeks, Californians will decide whether to legalize small amounts of marijuana for recreational use, in a vote that polls show could be close.

Now, for a change in the drug war, it is Mexico wondering about the possible spillover, this time of an idea. Will such a bold step by its neighbor to the north add momentum to a burgeoning movement here for broad drug legalization?

The backdrop is the drug war, which has left Americans worrying about many of the ills that spill over the border: kidnappings, murders and, of course, drugs themselves. At the same time, Mexicans chafe at the guns flowing in from the States, the nearly 30,000 people killed in drug-related violence here in the past four years and the American demand and consumption that largely sustain the drug trade.

Small steps toward legalization have already been taken on both sides of the border. California, where medical marijuana has been legal under state law since 1996, this month made the punishment for possessing small amounts of the drug the equivalent of a speeding ticket instead of a misdemeanor. Last year Mexico removed the penalty for possessing small quantities of a range of drugs, including cocaine, heroin and marijuana, though selling or producing them remain prohibited.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/18/world/americas/18mexico.html?th&emc=th

don't think we're buying from them, it's AZ & TX that have the majority of issues (no source, just a guess based on MSM). CA can and have grown their own which (again, in my opinion) is of higher quality than anything coming across the border. 19 will have no effect with what is going on in Mexico, at least until the remainder of the "republic" follows suit.


i could be wrong, it's happened before.

This vote buying deal is far worst than what the Mormans did with Prop8.