It’s been a few weeks since Mexico’s law decriminalizing possession of drugs for personal use went into effect. While supposedly encouraging treatment, the law is vague on enforcing it, leaving people essentially free to wander the streets with a few grams of weed (though much smaller quantities of harder drugs) in their pockets. Setting legal limits for illegal products was always going to be something of a guessing act, but the resultant amounts are tiny enough to become almost symbolic because users were rarely prosecuted before.

Still, there are other points to consider. What does the legislation signal to the rest of the world, particularly the United States? Does it herald a broader shift toward relaxed drug laws in Latin America? Or possibly in all of the Americas? And what does it really mean for Mexico?
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Jose Flores is accused of hijacking an AeroMexico plane

UPDATE 10:15 P.M.:  Now that the presumed mastermind of today’s hijacking has been revealed as this smiling Bolivian “religious fanatic,” gospel singer, former drug addict, and self-proclaimed expert marksman who says he seized the plane wielding only a pair of juice cans disguised as a bomb on a heavenly mission to warn of a coming earthquake, Mexicans are feeling, well, relieved. The country is a week shy of the year anniversary of the grenade attack against Sept. 16 Independence Day revelers, and two recent bombings have put some in Mexico City slightly on edge. It may be obvious to state, but after months of unrelenting drug-war violence, swine flu and economic misfortune, the last thing Mexico needed was a cartel-led assault against Cancun beachgoers.

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UPDATE 6:50 P.M.: Mexican media are reporting that the plane was hijacked by a Bolivian pastor and gospel singer who has at least a couple of videos up on YouTube. His rationale for the hijacking was apparently divinely inspired. More on this a little later.

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Just to add the latest to Marcelo’s post, the government has now arrested detained nine suspects in today’s hijacking. For anyone wanting up-to-minute news, El Universal’s Twitter page (in Spanish) is a good place to start.

As Marcelo points out, the situation is basically resolved. No one was harmed, the presumed hijackers have been detained, and the whole ordeal took place in a few hours. Remaining questions are who was behind this and to what aim and how is this going to affect Mexico’s tourism industry, which was  just starting to recover post-swine flu. The fact that the plane departed from Cancun, the most popular resort destination in the country, could be significant or mean nothing at all.

I will update this post later tonight as the story unfolds….

This is the palatial Christus Muguerza Alta Especialidad Hospital, one of 10 medical facilities in the wealthy northern city of Monterrey that cater to an international clientele. The rise of medical tourism is inexorable in our global economy—and cities like Monterrey realize they’re sitting on priceless real estate with the largest and richest pool of medical refugees in the world just a few hours north.

Mexico actually has a lot to offer in the way of medical care. Along with other Latin American countries, it’s long been a destination for cheap orthodontics and cosmetic boosts. And now highly-regarded, internationally accredited hospitals like the one above are promoting more invasive procedures like knee replacements (for about a third the regular price) to Americans, including and especially Hispanic Americans. At last Census count, Hispanics represented 15 percent of the American demographic rainbow, clustered heavily along the southern border, where driving a few miles south for safe but cheap surgery makes a lot of sense. But Latinos aren’t the only ones crossing borders.

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Mexican President Felipe Calderon has enacted a law decriminalizing possession of small amounts of drugs for personal use, including heroin and meth.

Mexico has never been in the habit of jailing users and addicts the way we do in the States, so practically speaking the new law isn’t expected to change all that much for most people (with the possible exception of beat cops losing a source of bribes). Still, it’s considered controversial largely because of the way the United States has reacted to similar legislation in the past.

In 2006, President Fox proposed and Congress passed a legalization bill but then chucked it when Washington complained. This time around, Gil Kerlikowske has said the administration will take a “wait-and-see” approach.

The new law allows Mexicans to carry up to five grams of marijuana, half a gram of cocaine, 50 milligrams of heroin, 40 milligrams of meth, and, for good measure, a little LSD.

It’s finally here, everyone! The world’s first (and, I’m going to take a big journalistic leap into the future here, only) swine flu statue. In effigy is young Edgar Hernandez, aka “Patient Zero,” the boy from La Gloria, Veracruz, who was one of the first in Mexico to get the A/H1N1 virus. The governor of Veracruz decided to memorialize him after swine flu became the most exciting tourist attraction in La Gloria’s history.

The photo shows little bronze Edgar holding a frog in his right hand. Water pours from the frog’s mouth, somehow representing the virus that combines flu genes found in pigs and birds. “The Boy from La Gloria” is modeled after the famous peeing boy statue the Mannekin-Pis in Belgium. Governor Fidel Herrera Beltran explained the connection: “Edgar Hernandez is healthier than ever, and even when he goes to the bathroom people follow him because they want to cure themselves [with his urine].”