Former presidents propose to decriminalize marijuana

Decriminalizing the possession of marijuana for personal use and sending the users to doctors instead of jail. This is what the former presidents Fernando Henrique Cardoso, from Brazil, and Cesar Gaviria Trujillo, from Colombia, asked for on behalf of the Latin American Commission of Drugs and Democracy (above), during meeting in Rio de Janeiro when the declaration that proposes new drugs policies for the region was released. Although not present in the event, Mexican former president Ernesto Zedillo is also part of the commission and supports the declaration.

 
The document is a response to what the commission considers the failure of drug repression policies led by the United States and endorsed by the UN. “A realistic evaluation of these policies shows that there has been no reduction in production nor in the consumption of drugs. We are farther than ever from the announced goal of eradicating illicit drugs” stated Brazil's Cardoso.

“The focus on prohibition has generated serious human and social problems as violence and corruption increase in the region”, Cardoso (photo) added. The declaration will be presented during a meeting of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs in March, in Geneva, Switzerland.

In Mexico, for example, 5,300 people lost their lives last year as a consequence of the violence generated by the confrontations between dealers - an increase of 117% in the number of homicides in relation to the previous year, according to data from Mexico's Attorney General's Office.

Cardoso made clear that the commission's proposal on the decriminalization of marijuana, however, does not imply in complacency with drugs and that this measure has to be followed by a strong preventive component, through informative campaigns and repression to organized crime. “We reaffirm that drugs are harmful to people and society and our main goal is to reduce this damage, but we believe that the way to deal with this subject is a matter of public health”, Cardoso said.

There are similar initiatives currently in existence in Latin America. Brazil approved in 2006 a law that decriminalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana. In Colombia, the transportation of doses of marijuana for personal use is allowed, as of any drug, including cocaine, after a country Constitutional Court defended the right to the free development of one's personality. Argentina is debating the subject and, outside the region, the pioneers in the decriminalization of the drug consumers are Sweden, Holland, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

Marijuana is the most consumed drug in the world, with 160 million users. It is produced by 82 countries and trafficked in 146 nations. This data is from the last World-Wide Report on Drugs formulated by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), that recognizes the increase in the consumption in Latin America over the last few years.

Latin America has the right

Former President of Columbia Cesar Gaviria (on the left), who co-presides the commission along with his Brazilian and Mexican colleagues, stated that decriminalization is only one step towards more effective drug policy to lower consumption.”

Decriminalization is part of the solution, but it is not the solution”, Gaviria stated. “It is necessary to do what the Europeans are doing with citizens who have developed an addiction: to help them, direct them to medical treatment, to treat them as a public health issue and help them not to become criminals”.

In an open criticism of the policies of repression practiced by United States, Gaviria affirmed that the country is one of the only ones that continues jailing drug users. “We believe that this is not the answer”, he added.

During the last ten years, the criminal cases relative to drugs in the North American Federal Justice system have tripled, overloading the criminal system of that country. According to the North American Drug Policy Alliance organization , about 1.5 million  people are imprisoned yearly for breaking  the anti-drug laws, and 40% of them go to jail for possession of marijuana.

Another failure of the North American policy regarding illicit drugs is the US$4.9 billion that the Columbian government received from the United States government as part of the Colombia Plan to combat drug trafficking, a plan that did not lower the flow of drugs from the Andean country to the United States.

As for the progress made by a few European countries thanks to the implementation of damage reduction policy, Gaviria also criticized the fact that in that region the consumption hasn’t diminished. The former president of Colombia attributes this to the lack of consistent efforts for drug use prevention and education of drugs users.

The former president of Colombia stated, further, that Latin America has the right to demand that the United States revise prohibition policies that have failed to achieve the expected results, and its effects on the region. “The commission is considering that Latin America takes an independent position in terms regarding drug consumption”,  he stated.

According to Gaviria, the region is developing great work in terms of cocaine apprehension and it is the key for North American policy. “Drug policy doesn’t exist without the cooperation of Peru, Colombia, Bolivia and all the other countries. We have, thus, the right to debate these policies and the first step is to ask United States to engage in open discussions”, demanded Gaviria.

When he was president of the Federal Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, the current United States Vice-President Joseph Biden asked the agency a report on the results of the Colombia Plan, and the verdict was categorical: the program did not succeed in diminishing the flow of cocaine from Colombia to United States of America.

Another sign that Obama’s administration is not far from reevaluating its drugs policy is the nomination of the new anti-drug Czar Gil Kerlikowsk, current Seattle Head of Police, a city known for its progressiveness: it introduced the harm reduction policies and the legal use of marijuana for medical purposes ten years ago.

Beyond directly lobbying with United States and continuing with the promotion of debates together with other governments, the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy intends to influence discussions that will take place in the sessions of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs. Although the drafts prepared for this meeting do not contemplate great changes in the world-wide drugs policy, Gaviria guaranteed that “ it is not possible to keep thinking that drugs will disappear, because this is not realistic. It is necessary to adopt changes as, for example, the reduction of damages”.

“In many countries, the drug trafficking is generating an increasing criminalization of politics and a politicalization of crime that threatens democratic institutions”, stated Cardoso. The former President of Brazil emphasized that it is first necessary to break the taboo that blocks the debate on the question of drugs in our societies. “We need to explore alternative paths, with prudence and courage, that will lead us to more secure, human and efficient policies”, he affirmed.

Commenting on the importance of the consumption prevention of illicit drugs, the former Mayor of Bogota, Antanas Mockus (photo), known for his efforts in using education for bettering social relations in Colombia, said that the control of the drugs consumption cannot be left solely to the police.

According to Mockus, a young person does not stop consuming drugs because the law forbids, but does so according to his or her own conscience and a position that will be conquered through information and social control. “Nothing is gained by forbidding the use of drugs as it is currently done, although forbidding it by law, is approved by society”, he explained.

The meeting was also attended by other members of the Commission, among them, the former minister of Justice and of Foreign Relations of Peru, Diego García Sayán; the judge Patricia Llerena, member of the Argentine Analysis Commission of Drugs Policies; general AlbertoCardoso, former minister of Institutional Security of the Presidency of Brazil and João Roberto Marinho, chief executive of O Globo.

See also:

Latin America opens drug policy debate

2008, Drug control in the balance

Complete report (in PDF format)

Other websites:

Latin-American Commission on Drugs and Democracy

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) World Drug Report 2008