OAS study says countries should consider decriminalizing drug use

[Judi Lynn]

OAS study says countries should consider decriminalizing drug use

By Chris Kraul
May 17, 2013, 2:30 p.m.

BOGOTA, Colombia — The Organization of American States said Friday that countries should consider decriminalizing drug use, a shift backed by several Latin American leaders but opposed by the United States. Decriminalization could be one of many “transitional methods” in a public health strategy that could include “drug courts, substantive reduction in sentences and rehabilitation,” according to a report released by the OAS on the possible liberalization of drug polices.

The report, presented by OAS Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza in Bogota, was commissioned during the April 2012 Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia, in response to many leaders’ complaints that U.S.-driven drug prohibition policies of recent decades had failed to stem the illicit drug business.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said he favored discussion of the decriminalization or legalization of drugs as a way to try to curb illicit drug use and trafficking.

Officials in countries known as drug production and transit locations, such as Colombia and Guatemala, have said they were paying intolerable costs in violence and corruption while consumer nations such as the U.S. and those in Europe were getting off relatively easy as the drugs keep flowing.

More:
http://www.latimes.com/news/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-oas-countries-decriminalizing-drugs-20130517,0,2066979.story

[Catherina]

1. Santos too?

Uribe is feeling threatened on multiple fronts then.

[Bacchus4.0]

3. Santos has had that position for some time now

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2012/mar/13/colombia_enact_drug_decriminaliz

March 13, 2012

The government of Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos is preparing legislation that will set "personal dose" amounts for drugs that will allow for their possession without the possibility of arrest or prosecution, the Bogota newspaper El Tiempo reported Tuesday. The decriminalization legislation could be presented as early this week, the newspaper said in its exclusive report.

Colombia was the first Latin American country to decriminalize drug possession after a ruling by its Constitutional Court in 1994. But during the presidency Santos' predecessor, Alvaro Uribe, the government amended the constitution to criminalize drug use, effectively re-criminalizing drug possession.

Last year, the Colombian Supreme Court threw out Uribe's changes, ruling that the possession of small quantities of drugs for personal use was a constitutional right. This pending legislation recognizes last year's ruling and actualizes it by setting the "personal dose" amounts.

[naaman fletcher]

4. Santos has been on this position for a while

Let's hope Maduro gets on board, too

[Judi Lynn]

2. OAS drug study eyes marijuana legalization

OAS drug study eyes marijuana legalization
Published: May 17, 2013

LIMA, Peru (AP) — An Organization of American States study commissioned in response to calls by some Latin American leaders for rethinking the war on drugs advocates serious discussion of legalizing marijuana.

"Sooner or later decisions in this area will need to be taken," the study released Friday says, although it makes no proposals or specific recommendations on any issue.

The $2.2 million study also notes that "no significant support" was found among any of its 35 member nations for the "decriminalization or legalization of the trafficking of other illicit drugs," including cocaine, which most directly affects the region.

The report was hailed as historic by drug policy reform advocates who call the more than $20 billion that Washington has spent on counterdrug efforts in Latin America over the past decade a damaging waste of taxpayer money.

More:
http://newsok.com/oas-drug-study-eyes-marijuana-legalization/article/feed/542733?custom_click=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Newsok%2FNews+%28NewsOK.com+RSS+-+news%29