
Bernardo Espino del Castillo of the attorney general's office stated, "in practice, small users almost never did face charges anyway. Under the previous law, the possession of any amount of drugs was punishable by stiff jail sentences, but there was leeway for addicts caught with smaller amounts." Espino del Castillo concluded, "The bad thing was that it was left up to the discretion of the detective, and it could open the door to corruption or extortion." Government law officials are hoping that the new changes will help authorities focus on stopping larger traffickers.