The Tijuana Connection: Here Comes Everybody

You think boycotts and "undocumented" immigration have been a problemo grande? Wait until you see the impact of the recent short-sighted decision by the Mexican government to legalize street drugs of all kinds in their country. Requiring only the signature of their President, the bill was passed clandestinely, without notice being given to a U. S. House of Representatives delegation who visited Mexico recently to discuss drug control issues.

The stated rationale for this change in the law is to allow authorities to focus their efforts on large-scale trafficking operations rather than minor drug busts. But the outcome will be the creation of another Amsterdam, with Americans pouring over the border to swell the coffers of the Mexican treasury. You think maybe they've figured this out? I do.

Criminal charges will no longer be brought against addicts or consumers for possession of up to 25 milligrams of heroin, 5 grams of marijuana or 1/2 gram of cocaine. Powerful hallucinogens were not spared the new lenient treatment: LSD, ecstasy, and peyote may also be held safely on one's person. And get this: A Mexican citizen will now be allowed to walk around with as much as two pounds of peyote without risking arrest. That's enough peyote to get a whole frat house at San Diego State University as high as a kite.

You, the "consumer," will now be able to walk around freely in Tijuana or any where else in Mexico with any street drug you wish and much less chance that anyone will care. Police will be paid off to turn the other way and allow "small amounts" of drugs to change hands between Mexicans and Gringos.

It's documented that heroin addiction is a big problem in Tijuana. That problem is sure to increase — not to mention the increases in use and abuse of every other kind of street drug. It's also documented that a sizable amount of the cocaine, heroin, and marijuana that ultimately finds its way to the United States either begins in or passes through Mexico. Despite the mammoth amounts of money spent over the years to fight the "war on drugs" coming across the border, the effort has been a colossal failure. And now, to top it off, we get to deal with legal street drugs in Mexico that you can bet two pounds of peyote buttons will soon find their way into our community. "Blow, mow, and go" will take on a new meaning when your gardener makes his weekly visit.

Now you will be able to go down and sample the street drugs of your choice. Every high school kid who can drive, college kid, and adult will now have a simple jump across the border to obtain whatever he or she wishes.

Do you think either the U.S. or Mexican authorities are going to make an issue of coming back across the border with these "small amounts" of drugs? Not likely. They can't be bothered checking all those cars for a few joints of marijuana, can they? After all, they need to preserve their resources to go after the major players, right?

Result: More drugs everywhere in Southern California. Can anything good come from this new policy? Maybe fewer jail cells filled for possession. But this decision has got to be one of the most foolish made regarding drugs in some time. So, thanks to the Mexican government, don't be surprised when you begin to hear of the new availability of street drugs in our community.

Steven Hendlin is a clinical psychologist in Newport Beach who writes the "Shrink Rap" column for Coast Magazine.