Mexico's President Fox Reverses Course on Bill to Make Drug Possession Legal

TIJUANA, MEXICO - MAY 03: Pedestrians pass a popular bar on Avenida Revolucion on May 3, 2006 in Tijuana, Mexico. Mexican President Vicente Fox refused to sign a bill that would legalize the personal use of drugs and narcotics. The law would have been among the world's most permissive. On May 2, Fox's spokesman pledged the president would sign it but on May 3, hours after U.S. officials warned the plan could encourage "drug tourism", the president sent the measure back to Congress for changes, prompting the Mexican media to accuse Fox of bowing to US pressure. The law would have allowed possession of personal amounts of drugs by anyone 18 or older, including cocaine, Ecstasy, LSD, marijuana, heroin, opium, and more than 2 pounds of peyote, the hallucinogenic cactus used in native religious ceremonies. In the last 18 months, more than 1,000 people have been killed in escalating violence over smuggling routes to the United States. Police and journalists have also become increasingly frequent targets, and automatic weapons and explosives are now common tools of the trade. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)