Research PaperThe law on the streets: Evaluating the impact of Mexico’s drug decriminalization reform on drug possession arrests in Tijuana, Mexico
Introduction
Over the recent decades, countries in Latin America have reacted to changes in drug trafficking and consumption patterns by adapting new policy and enforcement responses (Csete et al., 2016). Some countries have mounted heavily-militarized campaigns focused on suppressing drug production (Smith, 1992; Labate, 2015). Others have embarked on a transition from a punitive, prohibitionist approach toward a legal framework that promotes harm reduction and decriminalization (Bastos, Caiaffa, Rossi, Vila, & Malta, 2007; Metaal, 2014). There is, however, little research evaluating early adopters of such decriminalization reforms and their population-level impact (Beletsky et al., 2016).
In 2009, the federal Mexican congress promulgated a set of changes, known as the “narcomenudeo” reforms, shifting the legal prosecution of small-scale drug possession to the state (rather than the federal) level (Hernandez & Zamudio, 2009). The overarching goal of the reforms was to reserve federal resources for high level drug traffickers, while state and local governments would focus on small-scale dealers or “narcomenudistas.” Additionally, these reforms promoted treatment and harm reduction rather than incarceration by decriminalizing the possession of drugs in amounts below certain volume thresholds. Individuals found in possession of amounts above these thresholds were to be processed and referred to substance use treatment through the justice system (Russoniello, 2012). These modifications specifically set allowable amounts of drug possession (e.g. 50 mg for heroin, 5 g for marijuana) for immediate personal consumption without being considered a felony (De La Federación D.O., 2009), and mandated states to create free substance use rehabilitation systems to which habitual users would be diverted (Werb et al., 2014). On the state level, the state of Baja California set a deadline of August 2012 for full implementation and funding of the reforms (Del Estado de Baja California P.O., 2010).
At the time of passage, there was ample speculation about the impact of these new policy shifts on policing practice. One might expect the “narcomenudeo‘ reforms to decrease arrests for drug possession, because the reforms aimed to strengthen coordination between police and health officials, with the goal of minimizing the negative effects of illegal drug use. This could possibly benefit both the users and the broader community (De La Federación D.O., 2009). In addition, as has occurred in other decriminalization contexts, police managers or street-level officers could respond to decriminalization by discretionarily shifting their enforcement attention away from small-scale drug crimes (Woods, 2014). However, there are also several reasons to speculate that the reforms may increase drug possession arrests (Boiteux, Corda, & Edwards, 2010). Under the new law, state and municipal, rather than federal officers would now be expected to conduct the bulk of drug law enforcement activities, including presenting all individuals detained with drugs to the “Ministerio Publico’ (Public Prosecutor) to assess whether the possession of drugs fell below the established legal threshold. These encounters could also become more frequent because police might increase their presence in street-based drug markets in order to target dealers, increasing the possibility of corruption. In addition, by giving the state police new authority over drug possession crimes, the reforms could divert policing efforts from other high-impact crimes, such as homicides or armed robbery (Hernandez & Zamudio, 2009; Russoniello, 2012).
Tijuana is an international metropolitan area situated in the northern border region in the State of Baja California, Mexico. The city is a major route for drug trafficking of heroin, cocaine, marijuana and methamphetamines with local drug consumption patterns influenced by the dynamics of these supply chains and its geographic proximity to the US (Brouwer et al., 2006; Bucardo et al., 2005; Villatoro-Velázquez et al., 2012). As such, Tijuana has a high concentration of drug users, particularly people who inject drugs (PWID), a large number of whom inhabit an area that physically divides the US and Mexico (locally referred to as ‘El Bordo’). Many of these users are migrants and deportees who lack access to formal health, housing and other government services (Velasco & Albicker, 2013). The nearby Tijuana’s downtown precinct “Centro” exhibits higher rates of drug possession arrests, as it includes several open air drug markets and is the nexus for other drug-related activity (Gaines et al., 2017). In total, this locale has been subject to police raids to “clean up” public space, increasing the number of detentions for loitering or vagrancy among PWID (Semanario Zeta Tijuana, 2015). The experience of Tijuana as a locale with elevated levels of black market drug activity and drug-related harms (Pollini et al., 2008) presents a unique opportunity to analyze the application of the “narcomenudeo” reforms in a case study setting where its benefits are especially consequential.
Local dynamics of law enforcement deployment provide a unique setting for such an assessment. During 2008, Tijuana experienced a rapid increase in violence, from 14 homicides per 100,000 in 2007 to 49 per 100,000 in 2008, (Secretaria de Salud, 2016) that led the federal government to implement a series of police capacity-building reforms. Through a federal subsidy to local public safety (SUBSEMUN), the Tijuana Police Department standardized its protocols (i.e. frisking, patrolling) and police identity (i.e. uniforms), in addition to instituting higher salaries and acquiring a range of new equipment (i.e. surveillance cameras, computers) (Arredondo, 2012; Sabet, 2012). These efforts also included improvements in police data collection systems. As a result, the Tijuana Police Department, which is among the largest municipal agencies in the country, also emerged as one of Mexico’s better-equipped, well-compensated, and professionalized law enforcement institutions. Currently, it employs approximately 2100 officers, who work on shifts of eight hours per day and rotate among the 11 policing sectors (precincts) of the city.
In March 2013, a Memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the University of California San Diego (UCSD) and the Tijuana Ministry of Public Safety (Secretaria de Seguridad Publica Municipal de Tijuana – SSPM Tijuana) facilitating access to police databases for academic research purposes. Building on this unique data agreement, this study seeks to assess the impact of the “narcomenudeo” reforms on police enforcement patterns by analyzing SSPM Tijuana’s monthly crime incident reports. We measured changes in drug possession arrests in comparison to arrests for other violent and non-violent crimes before and after the mandated implementation of the “narcomenudeo” reforms. Although the reform could be expected to directly modify drug-related arrests, our study also examined its potential impact on a wider range of criminal offenses (Freeman et al., 2005; Rosenfeld & Fornango, 2014). We hypothesized that the reforms increased monthly drug possession arrests after they were fully implemented in August 2012, in response to the contemplated shift of drug law enforcement to local police.
Section snippets
Data sources
The current study used an institutional panel dataset summarizing monthly arrests for drug possession and other violent (e.g. robbery, homicides, injuries) and non-violent (e.g. car theft, theft) crimes. This information draws on mandated officer daily incident reports, collected across all 11 police precincts of the city and is utilized to inform police management and deployment decisions. This secondary data analysis was approved by the Institutional Review Board of UCSD School of Medicine,
Results
A visual analysis of the city-wide drug possession arrests suggests a moderate decrease in the immediate months (August − December 2012) after the full schedule of the reforms (See Fig. 1). However, the city saw an subsequent increase in the total arrests for drug possession in the first quarter of 2013 (January–March) and reached almost the same number as the first quarter of 2010 (around 450 per month). Relative to violent and non-violent arrests, drug possession arrests fluctuated more over
Discussion
While the decriminalization of small amounts of illegal drugs is theoretically expected to impact police enforcement patterns, we found no significant association between drug-related arrests and implementation of the narcomenudeo reforms in Tijuana. These results coinicide with qualitative findings that identified gaps in narcomenudeo’s street-level implementation that included a lack of preparation and coordination between key institutional stakeholders from public security, drug treatment,
Conclusion
There is an ample body of evidence that law reforms exhibit a major policy implementation gap, whereby policing practices may systematically differ from newly-enacted drug policies. This applies to policy interventions intended to closer align policing practices with public health objectives (Beletsky et al., 2014; Silverman et al., 2012; Burris et al., 2004). Traditionally, public health and public safety have had different approaches in addressing drug-related harms, but both sectors have
Ethics approval
The study was approved by the Institutional Review Boards of UCSD School of Medicine.
Consent for publication
The current work has not been published previously and it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere. The publication is approved by all authors. If accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, including electronically without the written consent of the copyright-holder.
Conflicts of interest
We wish to confirm that there are no known conflicts of interest associated with this publication.
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the collaboration from the Ministry of Public Safety and the special programs division. Special thanks to Victor Alaníz, and the rest of the statistical analysis unit. Support for the current research was provided by the Fogarty International Center of the National Institutes of Health under award NumberD43TW008633 and R25TW009343, and by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01DA039073, R37DA019829 and T32DA023356). Additional support was granted by the
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2022, International Journal of Drug PolicyCitation Excerpt :PWUD report concerns surrounding police attendance at overdose events and possession of drugs or paraphernalia, unwanted surveillance, being arrested for outstanding warrants and/or misdemeanors, being identified as a homicide suspect, being involved in drug supply investigations, and having housing compromised (Butler-McPhee et al., 2020; Koester et al., 2017; Latimore & Bergstein, 2017; Tesfaye Rogoza et al., 2020; Wagner et al., 2019). Effective drug policy implementation and sustainability relies on knowledge and support among stakeholders (Arredondo et al., 2018, 2017). In BC, police officers report a high degree of discretion in their application of the GSDOA, showing discrepancies with how the Act is operationalized (Xavier et al., 2021).