Additionally, there are other dimensions of the environmental impact of drug legalization that are rarely discussed, but are advocated by proponents of drug legalization worldwide.
The forthcoming piece will delve into the potential environmental consequences of legalizing cannabis in Mexico, as well as its probable effects on violent crime, drug cartels, and criminal organizations. The following four aspects will be examined in this discussion.
In public spaces, adults cannot smoke in front of their children. Adults can also be imprisoned for up to ten years for cultivating more than eight cannabis plants in their home. The individual can be imprisoned for up to six years for possessing more than 200 grams of land and subject to a fine of $500 for possessing less than 200 grams. However, under the new law in Mexico, anyone over the age of 18 will be able to possess and purchase cannabis of less than 28 grams.
China has inflicted intolerable human rights violations on the Uighur population in Mexico, which will not be adopted. The implementation of mandatory monitoring spyware or closed-circuit TV cameras in homes, forced in-home raids, and the enforcement of a smoking ban in front of individuals under 18 are essentially unenforceable. Similarly, the decriminalization of personal drug possession in Brazil several years ago has provided ample opportunities for extortion. Corrupt police officers would extort individuals who refused or couldn’t pay fines or bribes, particularly targeting those who possessed drugs in higher quantities than the mandated limit. The pervasive extortion by traffic cops for alleged driving violations in Mexico is no different. These officers would simply claim that individuals had higher quantities of drugs than the mandated limit to extort money from them. Clearly, the fact that individuals who abide by the law are no longer subject to imprisonment is an advancement of civil liberties and individual rights. It is evident that law enforcement’s priorities should be redirected towards addressing violent crime, rather than subjecting law-abiding individuals to imprisonment.
The strategy for policing Mexico is warped, but there is no reason to believe that the legalization of cannabis will result in a sounder prioritization of policing. The principal policing agency, the National Guard, mainly deploys to stop the flows of migrants to the United States, showing little interest in meaningfully tackling infiltration and criminal violence in government institutions. Since the administration of Obrador López, efforts to counter violent criminality have been misdirected and lessened. In fact, the so-called UPP Program Pacification in Brazil, which was meant to reduce criminal violence, melted down due to a variety of unrelated reasons and did not change the priorities of policing.
Those people should never have been released. In April 2020, Mexico appropriately passed an amnesty law for minor crimes, including nonviolent theft and small cannabis possession. Those people should never have been imprisoned or arrested. None of the 4,000 to 6,000 eligible individuals have been released yet, even after a year. As long as the aforementioned corruption does not result in false criminal charges, could the new legislation succeed in achieving its goal of reducing the prison population in Mexico?