Fox Shows Signs of Sanity

Mexican President Vicente Fox had a moment of sanity today.

President Vicente Fox vetoed a controversial bill last night that would have permitted the possession of small quantities of drugs, sending the measure back to Congress after mounting criticism from the United States that his administration was backing away from drug enforcement.

Fox refused to sign the bill in hopes of eliminating “any doubt that in our country the possession and consumption of drugs are and will continue being crimes.”

Although he did not mention the United States in a statement that his office released last night, Fox's careful wording seemed aimed at concerns raised by U.S. officials over the past few days about Mexico's commitment to fight the drug cartels that smuggle billions of dollars of narcotics across the border.

“The Mexican government will have to deepen the fight against drug trafficking,” Fox said. “In no way is it promoting the use of drugs. The objective of the bill is to attack with all the weight of the law the trafficking of narcotics, in particular small-scale trafficking.”

Maybe they're further from becoming the genuine national security threat I thought. But then, there's still that pesky illegal immigration problem.