Pubdate: Thu, 01 Jun 2006
Source: Austin Chronicle (TX)
Section: Naked City
Copyright: 2006 Austin Chronicle Corp.
Contact: 
http://www.austinchronicle.com/info/email-directory.php?mailto=mail&name=General
Website: http://www.auschron.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/33
Author: Jordan Smith

WEED WATCH:  HOLD OFF ON THAT MEXICO ROAD TRIP

Cracking under pressure -- mainly applied by American Drug War 
soldiers -- Mexican President Vicente Fox earlier this month withdrew 
his support for a bill that would have legalized possession of small 
amounts of drugs -- everything from marijuana to cocaine and heroin 
- -- sending the bill back to Mexican legislators for some (pardon the 
pun) "tweaking."

Praised by drug policy reformers, the thinking behind the bill was 
that decriminalizing low-level possession would free up law 
enforcement resources, both manpower and money, to combat the threat 
posed by the ever-strengthening Mexican drug cartels (whose power has 
been boosted in the wake of several high-profile arrests of Colombian 
cartel honchos) that have been implicated in the increased violence 
in Mexican border towns like Nuevo Laredo.

Nonetheless, the plan did not go over well in places like San Diego, 
the United States' largest border city, where Mayor Jerry Sanders 
blasted the idea as "appallingly stupid," and, reportedly, federal 
officials then began a string of private meetings with Mexican 
officials to discourage the legislation.

In a subsequent press release, Fox's administration said that the 
bill would be sent back to Congress so that lawmakers could make the 
"needed corrections so it is absolutely clear in our country the 
possession of drugs and their consumption are, and will continue to 
be, a criminal offense." The amended legislation has yet to surface.

In other news, from the Dept. of Really Bad Ideas, two Dallas-area 
18-year-olds, Ian Walker and Joseph Tellini, are now facing multiple 
felony charges of assault on a public servant for serving 
marijuana-laced bran muffins to school office employees at Northeast 
Dallas' Lake Highlands High School on May 16.

What began as a juvenile prank quickly became a bad trip when school 
officials who'd eaten the muffins -- which Walker reportedly said 
he'd baked as part of an Eagle Scout project -- began complaining of 
nausea, headaches, and lightheadedness. That prompted the FBI to get 
involved -- in the event that the illnesses were caused by 
terrorist-related food supply contamination. While the inquiry failed 
to turn up terrorist intent, chemical testing did reveal pot in the 
pastries, sending Walker and Tellini to the pokey.

"They were just thinking it would be fun to get these teachers all 
silly and giggly," 86-year-old school receptionist Rita Greenfield 
told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "I do not think of this as a prank 
at all. It has caused heartaches and hard feelings."

Greenfield spent two days in the hospital after consuming the muffins 
- -- in part, reports The Dallas Morning News, because she "couldn't 
stop laughing."
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman