Latin America Leaders Unite to Decriminalize Drugs for Personal Use
An apparent revolt against the strong arm of U.S. antidrug policy is spreading within the top tiers of Latin American governments. ”More than 40 years after the world began this war against drugs, I think we need to analyze whether what we are doing is correct,” Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has recently said. While the US is continuing to pump more and more money into Latin America in an attempt to curb drug-related problems, it is becoming obvious that the tactics that have been relied upon in the past are non-effective. Over 8 billion dollars of military aid has been poured into Colombia alone over the last decade to dismantle drug networks, yet it still remains the world’s top cocaine producer. After decades of being brutalized by the U.S. government’s failed prohibitionist drug policies, many Latin American leaders are uniting to say “enough is enough”, and are looking to explore new ways of stepping up and handling drug issues in their country – and one way that keeps coming up time and time again is to decriminalize drug use for personal use.
Decriminalizing drug possession (when the amounts in possession are small and obviously for personal use) appears to have little impact on levels of illicit drug use. Its greater consequence is that it reduces the arrests of drug users, reduces opportunities for low level police corruption and allows police to focus their time and resources on more serious crimes, such as the large traffickers, it reduces costs within the criminal justice system, and better enables individuals and governments to deal with addiction as a health rather than criminal issue.
In many places in Latin America, it is now legal to possess anywhere between 5 and 20 grams of marijuana, to be used for personal use.
Those leaders calling for an end to the criminalization of drugs cannot all be brushed off as weak liberals. Take, for example, Otto Pérez Molina, Guatemala’s new president. He is a tough former general who in his campaign promised an “iron fist” against crime. After assessing the situation once in office, he recently called for the decriminalization of drug-trafficking, stating how much common sense it made to him: “You would get rid of money-laundering, smuggling, arms-trafficking and corruption.”
Recently Colombia’s Constitutional Court approved the government’s proposal to decriminalize possession of small amounts of cocaine or marijuana (small amounts being 20 grams of marijuana or one gram of cocaine). Depending on their state of consumption, somebody found in possession may be ordered to have physical or psychological treatment, but it would be illegal for a user to be prosecuted or detained.
Uruguay has always been on the more liberal side of drug policy in Latin America. Uruguayan law does not criminalize the possession or use of drugs for personal consumption – this is determined by judge’s discretion. But recently the government of Uruguay announced that it will submit a proposal (written by President Jose Mujica) to legalize marijuana under government-controlled regulation and sale, and if it passes after parliamentary approval, it would make it the first country in the world in which the state sells marijuana directly to its citizens.
Bolivia has made its thoughts on the topic crystal clear. It recently left a UN convention on narcotics control because it wants legal protection for the traditional use of coca leaves, which are chewed by many in the country and drunk as tea. Bolivia’s president, Evo Morales, who also happens to be the leader of the coca workers’ union, brandished a coca leaf at the annual meeting of the UN commission on drugs in Vienna, urging that his country be readmitted to the convention with an opt-out for coca.
Bolivia President Evo Morales chewed coca leaves during his speech at a UN meeting, defending his people’s right to enjoy the traditional leaf.
As President, Morales has raised the permitted amount of coca for traditional use from 12,000 hectares (29,500 acres) to 20,000. Foreign officials are not happy with him, and believe the increase is unwarranted. Most coca in Bolivia (31,000 hectares in total) is turned into cocaine for export. Morales, never one to shy away from controversy or back down from a fight he feels strongly in, expelled the US Drug Enforcement Administration.
Venezuela declared all the way back in 1993 that the possession of cocaine (up to 2 grams) and marijuana (up to 20 grams) for personal use would be permitted and no longer punished by prison sentences, recommending treatment instead. In September 2010, the National Assembly passed a third reform in anti-drug legislation, which upheld the previous permissible quantities.
In 2009, Argentina joined in with their ‘Arriola’ ruling by the Supreme Court. This ruling rendered the possession of marijuana for private, personal use by adults no longer punishable by prison sentence. (Possession of marijuana had originally warranted a typical sentence of between one month and two years). In 2011 the Federal Court underlined the unconstitutional nature of prosecuting personal consumption. The ruling’s main argument is that the law penalizing the possession of drugs for personal consumption affects the right to privacy, which is protected by constitutional norms. Supreme Court Judge Carmen Argibay noted that: “drug possession for personal consumption in itself does not provide any reason to affirm that the accused have carried out anything more than a private act or that they have offended public morals or the rights of others.”
Colombia, Uruguay, Bolivia, Venezuela, Mexico, and Argentina all have recently instated fairly liberal policies in regards to certain drugs for personal use.
Also in 2009, Mexico enacted the ‘Narcomenudeo’ Decree, a law which decriminalized possession of small quantities of specific drugs for personal use. These substances include: marijuana (5 grams), opium (2 grams), heroin (50 mg), cocaine (500 mg), LSD (0.0015 mg) and MDMA (40 mg of powder, crystal or granules or 200 mg of tablets). Also , psychoactive mushrooms and peyote are also decriminalized for use in ceremonies and traditional/cultural usage. Mexico is making a clear attempt to distinguish between personal consumers/street dealers and large-scale traffickers. Those caught with amounts that exceed the stipulated quantities face severe penalties, including long prison sentences, with the law assuming them to be low-scale traffickers.
What is your opinion? Do you feel that that decriminalization for personal use is a good thing? Would a country’s liberal drug policy influence your decision to move there? Do you feel that the current US anti-drug policy in regards to Latin America should continue? How do you think that it could be improved? Leave me your comments here, or you can always connect with me on Twitter at @LatinAmerExpats, Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Latin-America-Expats/117844228230144, or by email cathy@escapeartist.com.
The “War on Drugs” would be hilarious if it wasn’t so destructive to the inalienable rights of human beings. After 30 years of “war” there are more drugs on the streets of America than ever! This “war” was lost before it even started. And what does America have to show for it? An oppressive police state that has squandered the wealth of our beautiful country for their own ulterior motives. It’s time to grow up and face reality. For whatever reason, for better or for worse, people are going to get high. And you know what? They have an absolute right to get high! Any attempt to prevent or punish this behavior will inevitably result in complete failure. Take a casual look at Prohibition! Not to mention the tragic waste of resources that will be expended in a futile “war” against reality. It is obvious to any thinking person that the aggressive bullies who have initiated and perpetuated this futile “War on Drugs” do not really care about the health and welfare of America or its people. They care about accumulating and wielding power, and the “War on Drugs” is just a clever cover for their selfish, ulterior motives. It would be so nice if we could make America some sort of eternally pristine and happy Disneyland, but this is not realistic by any means, and there is no way that any society can sustain such a plesant delusion on a permanent bsais. For whatever reasons, people are going to use drugs to escape from reality and there is absolutely no way to stop it in the long run. It is time to recognize the fact that each human being is the inalienable owner of his body. Each human being has the exclusive, inalienable right to decide what does or does not enter and exit his own body. This includes the exclusive right to decide exactly where the product of his life-force will be invested, as long as he doesn’t directly interfere with another human being’s right to do the same. Consequently, each adult human being has the absolute right to ingest whatever substances they desire for whatever reason that they desire. Each individual human being also has the inalienable right to buy or sell sex, to gamble, and to have an abortion, just to name a few examples. And we each have the right not to do these things also; but we don’t have the right to force anyone else to do what we think is right as long as that person is not interfering with anyone else’s right to live as they choose. Isn’t this exactly what the American Consitution requires?! And let’s not forget to mention our most precious right of all – the right to decide exactly where to spend the product of our labor. Oh my God – that means voluntary taxation! Whoever objects to this concept is already a pathetic slave who lives in the pleasant delusion that some “benevolent police state” will somehow provide him with eternal security. It’s time to wake up to the shocking fact that there is no such thing as a “benevolent police state”; there are only ruthless, brutal police states that merely pretend to be benevolent until they acquire absolute power! Just take a casual glance at history. Nazi Germany is a perfect example. At it’s zenith, Nazi Germany was the most technolobically developed contry in the world. Thanks to Der Furher, everyone had a job, a Volkswagen in the garage, a chicken in the pot, and the trains ran on time. What a paradise! What a complete validation of police state rule! Before we get too euphoric, let’s not forget to consider what happened next. Fifty to seventy million people dead and many countries completely devastated by a brutal, senseless conflict. The Germans would have been much better off if they had accepted reality and not chased after a beautiful but psychotic delusion – and so would the American people. It’s time to accept the fact that, for the most part, government is a disease masquerading as its own cure!
I favor decrimalization for the possession or consumption of limited amounts of marijuana. I would support legislation to put a limit on alcohol possession or consumption.
I guess I shouldn’t have let that national guardsman in Venezuela hustle me for a bribe when he caught me with pot.
You can definitely see your enthusiasm in the work you write.
The arena hopes for more passionate writers such as you who are not afraid to mention how they believe.
All the time follow your heart.