Drug Policy: A continent prepares

Over the past few weeks there has been a growing chorus of official voices in favor of decriminalizing drug use in Latin America. Echoing concerns previously circumscribed to the halls of academia and progressive sectors of society, the presidents of Argentina, Mexico and Honduras have openly expressed their interest in supporting a new global stance with respect to drugs. The first step in changing current drug policy is being taken by proponents of harm reduction who believe drug users must be treated as health care patients and not as criminals through the penal system.

Facing a crisis generated by the narco-traffickers in his country, the president of Mexico Felipe Calderón said the drugs must not be seen exclusively as criminal issue, that drug use should be seen above all as a health issue.

Within a few days, Manuel Zelaya, President of Honduras lent his support to the controlled sales of substances that are currently illegal, although he stressed that measures of this nature must be taken globally and simultaneously.

A few weeks prior to Zelaya’s statement, President of Argentina Cristina Kírchner had stated that she supports the decriminalization of drug use. She told the local press that she did not think it was right to: “penalize addicts as if they were criminals… we have to penalize those who sell the substance.”

A few Latin American nations have gone further, taking concrete steps towards enacting progressive legislation. According to Argentinean Congressman Leonardo Gorbacz, there are a number of bills submitted by parliament members who champion the decriminalization of drug possession for personal use.

‘A technical committee of the Ministry of Justice is in currently charge of drawing up a bill that addresses the same concerns. The Drug Commission (Comisión de Adicciones) has also issued a recent ruling on a bill that establishes a national health care plan for drug users,” said Gorbacz.

Drug users  free from jail

The most recent change in drug law in the continent took place in Brazil with the enactment of its new drug law in 2006. According to Luciana Boiteux, PhD in Penal Law by the University of São Paulo, and member of the Brazilian Network for Harm Reduction and Human Rights’ Advisory Council, the law has had positive, if limited effects:

“Positive because it has meant greater political tolerance for public health policies targeting drug issues, while the previous law focused only on suppressive policies. The new law reduces penal sanctions for drug users, who may no longer be sentenced to prison for their acts. That said, it clearly is not a revolutionary law, drug use is still a crime. The law has been criticized for not going far enough,” said Boiteux.

Colombia was the first nation in Latin America to adopt similar reforms. The Colombian Constitutional Court de-criminalized the possession of a small amount of narcotic substances with the argument that drug use falls under the sphere of the free development of personality, an inalienable right. The minimal legal dose cannot exceed one gram of any cocaine based substance, 20 grams of cannabis and 5 grams of hashish.  Colombian president Álvaro Uribe's statement that he would like to re-criminalize drug use however failed to generate much repercussion.

On Stand by

The winds of change, however, have dwindled in the United States. Despite a pro legalization campaign in the State of California, voters failed to approve Proposition 5, a measure that would redirect 1 billion dollars of the budget of the corrections system toward prevention and rehabilitation of drug abuse.

Ethan Nadelman, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, an organization that promotes the debate on drug policy and championed Proposition 5 – Had it been approved, the Proposition 5 would have meant the greatest drug policy reform in the United States since Alcohol prohibition was abolished 75 years ago. California has been the first state to approve the use of cannabis for medical purposes, one of the greatest legal changes of the last 10 years.

Nadelman states that Obama's election means change: “Although Obama will not make the ending the War on Drugs his top priority, he did say that the United States should begin to treat drug use as a health care topic instead of one for criminal justice.”

Además, es destacable que en estas mismas elecciones el estado de Massachusetts ablandó las penas para el porte de pequeñas cantidades de marihuana y el estado de Michigan reglamentó el uso medicinal de la marihuana.

In the other states, voters in Massachusetts approved softer sentencing for possession of small quantities of cannabis and in Michigan regularized the use medicinal cannabis.

Latin America has a role to play

Although there is still much still in process before real changes take place in the region's drug laws, it is clear that Latin America is preparing to define its own stance in a meeting of the United Nations Narcotic Drugs Commission, to be held March 2009. A meeting that will evaluate the War Against Drugs that set world policy over the past ten years.

In Nadelman’s view, there is an emerging critical mass supporting change among Latin American leaders, as in the case of the Presidents Calderón, Zelaya and Fernández, and  earlier statements by the presidents of Venezuela, Bolivia and Equador.

“Latin America has a role of paramount importance to play and must formulate a strong drug policy proposal, it has already paid a very high price in the war against drugs, suffering its violent consequences,” said Nadelman.

Former minister of defense and senator, Colombia’s Rafael Pardo agrees that it is time that Latin America launch a debate on the need for a new global drug policy paradigm. “What is this new paradigm?” We have to build it. It must be discussed internationally. The primordial focus, in my opinion is to investigate, evaluate policies and to invest the resources in the prevention and treatment of addictions, more than controlling supply,” said Pardo.

Nadelman adds that the very creation of the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy, presided by Colombia’s César Gaviria, Mexico’s Ernesto Zedillo and Brazil’s Fernando Henrique Cardoso, is proof that there is a critical mass of leaders who are committed to change in drug policy. The Commission is preparing an official paper to be ratified in its upcoming February 2009 meeting, in Costa Rica, to set the agenda of the world meeting to be held two months later in the United Nations.

Rubem Cesar Fernández, executive director of the Brazilian NGO Viva Rio, that advises the LACDD, explains that since the Commission’s first meeting held in Rio de Janeiro this past June there has been a consensus on the part of participants on the failure of the current world drug policy:

“The proof of this failure is that the policy has established itself as a goal in a World Without Drugs in ten years. The ten years have passed and drug production has kept to roughly the same levels. The aggravating factor for Latin America is that it also strengthened para-state organizations and  increased  organized crime, and with it corruption and violence.”

Thus, in Fernandes’ view, Latin America must take on a much more active role in the international scene, and this is precisely what the LACDD looks forward to in its upcoming document, to be published February of 2009, with the approval of at least 100 Latin American leaders.

Translated by Lis Horta Moriconi

Read Further:

The Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy