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MEXICO CITY — Mexican President Felipe Calderón has an offer for drug users: Go into rehab, stay out of jail.

Calderón sent lawmakers an initiative Thursday that would give people caught with less than 2 grams of marijuana, half a gram of cocaine, 40 milligrams of methamphetamine or other drugs the choice of treatment. Those who refuse could be sentenced to up to 3 1/2 years in prison.

Currently Mexican judges decide how drug offenders should be charged. Calderón's measure seeks to codify different treatment for users and dealers.

Two years ago, then-President Vicente Fox introduced a bill to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana, cocaine and heroin. Congress passed it, but Fox then vetoed his own legislation after Washington complained.

Sen. Ernesto Saro of Calderón's National Action Party said the new bill does not aim to decriminalize drugs.

"If you're carrying a small amount for immediate consumption and you agree to treatment, there won't be a criminal sanction," he said.

All but 12 states in the U.S. offer the choice of treatment instead of jail for people caught with marijuana. But other drugs carry much stiffer penalties, said Allen St. Pierre, director of NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

A Mexican government study released last month found that the number of addicts in the country has nearly doubled, from 158,000 to 307,000, since 2002. Experts say the increase is partly due to a U.S. crackdown on trafficking along the Mexico-U.S. border that has forced drug cartels to sell more of their products domestically.

Since 2006, Calderón has sent more than 20,000 troops nationwide to battle drug cartels that are engaged in a bloody turf war for control of lucrative smuggling routes. But drug violence has only increased, with rising murder rates, frequent shootouts and gruesome decapitations.