Argentine Courts Let Narcotics Offenders Off Without Penalty

[High Plains]

Source: Washington Post

Officials seek new way to fight abuse

BUENOS AIRES - After getting caught with contraband like ecstasy tablets and marijuana, a few young Argentines have been asked by judges recently to pay an unexpected price for breaking the nation's drug laws: none at all.

That's because separate federal tribunals here have ruled that a law penalizing the personal use of drugs is unconstitutional. Two offenders have been let off the hook in Buenos Aires. And this week another group of judges echoed the ruling after considering the case of a young man arrested with marijuana.

"Criminalization will only apply in cases where the possession of narcotics for personal consumption represents a danger for the public health of others," the judges announced.

<snip>

"This criterion fits in well with the laws of more civilized nations," Daniel Sabsay, an Argentine constitutional scholar, told Buenos Aires's Clarin newspaper. "I believe that with this, the sense of a broadening of freedom is respected."

<snip>

This year, Anibal Fernandez, Argentina's highly influential minister of justice, security, and health, publicly denounced Argentina's current drug laws as a "catastrophe." Fernandez pointed to neighbors Brazil and Uruguay as examples of countries where punishments against consumers have been relaxed without experiencing an upsurge in casual drug use.



Read more: http://www.boston.com/news/world/latinamerica/articles/2008/06/10/argentine_courts_let_narcotics_offenders_off_without_penalty

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How on earth does my government justify throwing me in prison for ingesting any substance?

What are the progressive Democrats doing on this issue? Where's Obama?

When will the US become a civilized country like Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, and most of Europe?

Number of people behind bars in the US for drug offenses: 600,000

[mdmc]

1. sheeple

won't fight against the drug war. Won't impeach the real criminal. :mad:

[aquart]

4. Dismissive and contemptuous. That'll impress 'em.

[mdmc]

6. Who?

[aquart]

2. Agreement here. With caveat.

If you ingest and sit in a corner without bothering anyone, I got no problem with you. Ingest and get behind the wheel of a car or boat or anything else more powerful than a toy wagon, I have no problem throwing away the key.

[High Plains]

5. You, I, and the Argentine judges all agree.

"Criminalization will only apply in cases where the possession of narcotics for personal consumption represents a danger for the public health of others," the judges announced.

I assume that would apply to DUID.

Actually, it's not the ingestion that concerns me, but the impairment. That's why we need to be really careful about drug testing drivers. Marijuana will show up in your system for days or weeks after you smoked, long after any impairment vanished.

[High Plains]

3. Democrats will do nothing about the drug war. They never do.

Oh, maybe a bit of tinkering at the margins, like letting some guy with $50 worth of crack out after 10 years instead of 12.

[Indenturedebtor]

7. "Where's Obama"? He's said he wants to decriminalize - link here

http://transform-drugs.blogspot.com/2008/01/barack-obama-supports-cannabis.html

And there's others detailing the exact statements etc.

And yeah when will we grow the f up?

[Warren Stupidity]

8. 'the sense of a broadening of freedom is respected'

WTF? How come other people on the planet get to live in places where they think that a sense of a broadening of freedom is something that should be respected? We have been headed directly in the opposite direction, with all due haste, since the late 60s.