Pot holders rejoice: drug decriminalization.

• Author: Sullum, Jacob
• Position: Citings - Brief article

IN NOVEMBER, Massachusetts voters approved Question 2, a ballot initiative that eliminates criminal penalties for possessing up to an ounce of marijuana. Pot smokers carrying small amounts of marijuana will no longer be subject to arrest or the ancillary penalties associated with it, such as loss of professional licenses and impairment of educational and employment opportunities. Instead they will face no more than confiscation of the drug and a $100 civil fine.

Shortly before Question 2 passed, Mexican President Felipe Calderon proposed legislation that in some ways goes further. Under Calderon's proposal, anyone possessing up to two grams of marijuana or opium, half a gram of cocaine, 50 milligrams of heroin, or 40 milligrams of methamphetamine would face no criminal penalties as long as he agreed to enter treatment. (Otherwise, he could get up to three and a half years in prison.) The treatment requirement was enough to win the support of U.S. drug czar John Walters, who declared, "I don't think that's legalization."

Just as Massachusetts and Mexico...