Mexico ahead of the curve ?

These are strange days indeed.

Mexico had attempted to de-criminalise marijuana possession in 2006 but the Bush administration effectively nixed the move. On Friday, without fanfare (or US opposition), Mexican President Vicente Fox finally got his way and de-criminalised a whole raft of narcotics for personal use. "We can't close our eyes to this reality," said Sen. Jorge Zermeno. "We cannot continue to fill our jails with people who have addictions.".

The problem's a little more complex than that. Mexico has a serious drug cartel problem - decapitation of informants and policemen who don't toe the cartel line has been very much in vogue this summer. They've also had a problem with the police abusing the legislation - using it as leverage for information, hitting crime stat targets etc. Word is that this one small step is paving the way for full legalisation of drugs.

If Mexico's moving forward, it's almost certainly because things have got so bad they're running out of options.

Meantime, our progressive government, despite numerous (and unanimous) expert advice have re-criminalised cannabis. On the ground we're reliably informed it won't make a difference - there's no way the police are gonna bother charging people for personal use... unless of course they need something else out of you (like hitting a drug offence target).

Which brings us to the poor sod in Kissimmee (Florida) who got locked up for 3 months for possession of breath mints, he lost his job, apartment and car because an over-zealous policeman needed a bust and his field testing kit said the afore-mentioned mints were cocaine...

"A man is suing the Kissimmee Police Department for an arrest over mints. When officers pulled Donald May over for an expired tag [insurance] , they thought the mints he was chewing were crack and arrested him.

May told Eyewitness News they wouldn't let him out of jail for three months until tests proved the so-called drugs were candy...

May was pulled over for an expired tag on his car. When the officer walked up to him, he noticed something white in May's mouth. May said it was breath mints, but the officer thought it was crack cocaine.

"He took them out of my mouth and put them in a baggy and locked me up [for] possession of cocaine and tampering with evidence," May explained.The officer claimed he field-tested the evidence and it tested positive for drugs.

The officer said he saw May buying drugs while he was stopped at an intersection. He also stated in his report May waived his Miranda rights and voluntarily admitted to buying drugs.

May said that never happened."My client never admitted he purchased crack cocaine. Why would he say that?" attorney Adam Sudbury said.

May was thrown in jail and was unable to bond out for three months. He didn't get out until he received a letter from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the State Attorney's Office that test results showed no drugs were found.

"While I was sitting in jail I lost my apartment. I lost everything," he said.
While May was in jail, the police department also auctioned off his car."

Cut to the Magistrates association in the UK "vehemently opposing" proposed government legislation and absolutely not trusting the police with discretionary powers to even issue on-the-spot fixed penalty fines for careless driving.

Mexico, a 3rd world country ahead of the UK ? If it seems like this post's taken a scenic route around the logic (and the world. Ed) - blame the cannabis.