Latin America |

Drug Policy Reform on the move

After reaching a tipping point in 2012, the move towards global drug policy reform has intensified in 2013, with the consolidation on the breakthrough victories of 2012. More states have joined the expanding club of legal medical marijuana states. Legislation has been enacted for the establishment of legal adult marketplaces in Colorado and Washington State. Uruguay is in the final stage of becoming the first country in the world to formally legalize marijuana.

Now the line are being drawn for the next round of battles, in with the 2014 mid-term electoral cycle, and beyond, the 2016 US presidential elections.

The lines are being drawn globally as well, with a special UN cession on drug policy scheduled for 2016.

For a detailed review of the major trends and event, I invite you to check the following slideshow. Thank you for sharing and liking it!

Drug policy reform on the move from Jeffrey Dhywood

Uruguay lower house passes marijuana legalization bill

Uruguay about to become the first country in the world to regulate and control all aspects of marijuana production and trade.

After a fierce 13 hours debate, the lower house of the Uruguayan parliament, the chamber of deputies, narrowly approved on July 31 the marijuana legalization bill introduced by President Mujica and his governing coalition. The bill was approved by a thin 50 majority vote of the 96 “diputados” presents in the lower house (out of a total of 99). The bill is now expected to clear the Uruguayan senate where the governing coalition holds a more comfortable majority.

Under the bill, a newly created Institute for Regulation and Control of Cannabis will assume “the control and regulation of the importation, exportation, plantation, cultivation, the harvest, the production, the acquisition, the storage, the commercialization and the distribution of cannabis and its by-products”.

Buyers would have to be registered on a database and be over the age of 18. They would be able to buy up to 40g (1.4oz) of marijuana per month in specially licensed pharmacies. The bill also authorizes cultivation for personal use of up to six plants. Growers clubs of 15 to 45 members will be allowed to grow up to 99 plants collectively.

To discourage marijuana-tourism, foreigners are excluded from the measure.

Uruguayan President José Mujica and his government first announced their intent to submit a proposal for marijuana legalization under governmental control on June 20, 2012. Possession and use of marijuana has been legal in Uruguay since 1974. The main objective of the proposal was to tackle growing drug-related violence mostly linked to cocaine paste. The idea was to cut off the marijuana marketplace from the most dangerous hard drugs marketplace.

Up until the early 2000s, most of the cocaine trade to the US and Europe was taking place on a Northern route throughout the Caribbean and Central America, and the southernmost countries were mostly spared the narco violence that devastated most countries located between Colombia and the US. With increased enforcement in the Caribbean region, traffickers opened new routes to the EU through West Africa, transiting through Brazil and Argentina, spilling into Uruguay. As a result, the traditionally sedate country, one of the safest in Latin America, witnessed a dramatic surge in the trafficking and use of cocaine paste and its associated violence. Most of the marijuana currently sold on the Uruguayan black market is smuggled from Paraguay through the ultra-porous borders with Brazil and Argentine.

Legalization supporters also pointed to the paradox of legal possession and use while production and sale were still criminalized. “The consumption of marijuana has been allowed for 40 years, but it can only be accessed through the narcos, and requires the commission of a crime, in addition to the exposure to other drugs,” the Broad Front said in a statement on its website. “We have created a great business for drug trafficking, and that is what we want to start to fight.”

The move is followed very closely in the region, desperately looking for alternatives to the failed current drug policies. “Uruguay appears poised, in the weeks ahead, to become the first nation in modern times to create a legal, regulated framework for marijuana,” said John Walsh, a drug policy expert at the Washington Office on Latin America. “In doing so, Uruguay will be bravely taking a leading role in establishing and testing a compelling alternative to the prohibitionist paradigm.”

The Uruguayan initiative received the informal blessing of José Miguel Insulza, Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS) on visit in the country ahead of the lower house vote. The OAS regroups all 35 independent states of the Americas, with the domineering and often resented presence of the US, the Northerly Big Brother. Insulza was on a two days visit to introduce the recently published report on drug consumption in the Americas, prepared by the OAS as a mandate of the Sixth Summit of the Americas. The report favors drug decriminalization of marijuana and other soft drugs, and advocates a broad debate about drug policy. Insulza emphasized that Uruguay is the first country where he is presenting the OAS report, saying “What better place to start than here, where there is already a debate.”

“Nearly half of all consumers of cocaine and opiates in the world live in our region, as well as a quarter of those who smoke marijuana,” declared Insulza, “this consumption has created an illegal business that threatens the integrity of our institutions… The number of deaths caused by drug consumption seem minimal when compared with the deaths caused by drug-related criminal activity.“

Insulza praised the efforts of the Government of Uruguay: “I would like to publicly recognize the responsible and serious manner in which the Uruguayan State and civil society are addressing the project presented by the government on the production, sale and use of marijuana in this country.” And concluded: “Uruguay’s experience is being watched with great attention by the rest of the Hemisphere and we are convinced that whatever the outcome of this process, we can all draw important lessons from it.”

President Mujica, 78, a former guerrilla during the brutal 1970s military dictatorship, has steered Uruguay towards socially liberal policies. His government enacted a groundbreaking abortion rights law and legalized same-sex marriage. Mujica is also an outspoken environmentalist, actively positioning his country as a center for renewable energy.

The marijuana bill has been under consideration for more than a year, with Mr. Mujica urging legislators last December to postpone voting on it after polls showed a majority of Uruguayans were opposed. Public opinion remains strongly opposed to marijuana legalization despite a year-long education and information campaign by President Mujica’s government. Opposition politicians vowed launch a petition to have the law overturned even if the law made it through the senate.

In February 2001, Uruguayan President Jorge Batlle was the first head of state to advocate legalization of all drugs to end narco-violence. Politics still being politics, even in ultra-democratic Uruguay, his party, the Colorado party, now in the opposition, nonetheless opposed the marijuana legalization bill.

Uruguay is a tiny country of 3.3 million located on the Atlantic coast on the Southern border of Brazil and separated from Argentina by the estuary of the Río de la Plata. It ranked 20th in Transparency International’s 2012 Corruption Perceptions Index, tying with Chile just below the United States. With its high degree of accountability, its strong state presence and stable government, it is an ideal place to experiment with marijuana legalization.

Uruguay poised to make history on July 31, with OAS blessings

Uruguay Parliament poised for historic vote on recreational marijuana legalization under government control.

Uruguayan President Jose Mujica and his wife Lucia Topolansky

Often dubbed the Switzerland of Latin America, Uruguay is a tiny country of 3.3 million inhabitants located on the Atlantic coast on the Southern border of Brazil and separated from Argentina by the estuary of the Río de la Plata.

Faced by an invasion of cocaine paste from neighboring Colombia, sleepy Uruguay was propelled to the global headlines on June 20, 2012 when Uruguayan President José Mujica and his government announced their intent to submit a proposal for marijuana legalization under governmental control. Possession and use of marijuana is already legal in Uruguay. Thus was launched a year-long nationwide debate that seems poised to conclude on July 31, when the marijuana legalization proposal will be submitted to a vote in the Uruguayan parliament.

The proposal was originally scheduled for a December 2012 vote, but President Mujica decided to postpone it for lack of popular support even though his government coalition enjoys a comfortable majority. With polls showing public support for legalization stuck in the low 30s, Mujica decided instead to launch an extensive national debate where opponents and supporters of the initiative could freely explain their arguments to the public. In a remarkable lesson in genuine democracy that we wish more governments would emulate, Mújica declared back then: “Don’t vote on a law because you have majority in parliament. Support has to come from the streets.”

But Mújica is not quite your average president either, being more like the Nelson Mandela of Latin America. A former Tupamaros guerrilla leader during the brutal Uruguayan military dictatorship in the 1970s, Mujica was shot by the police six times and served 14 years in prison, including over two years in solitary confinement at the bottom of a well. Known for his humility and kindness, Mujica gives to charity 90% of his $12,000 monthly salary, and shunned the presidential palace, its pump and its armored limousines to live in his modest ranch with his wife, commuting in his old Volkswagen beetle.

Early this week, the Uruguayan initiative received the informal blessing of José Miguel Insulza, Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS). The OAS regroups all 35 independent states of the Americas, with the domineering and often resented presence of the US, the Northerly Big Brother. Insulza was on a two days visit to introduce the recently published report on drug consumption in the Americas, prepared by the OAS as a mandate of the Sixth Summit of the Americas. The report favors drug decriminalization of marijuana and other soft drugs, and advocates a broad debate about drug policy. Insulza emphasized that Uruguay is the first country where he is presenting the OAS report, saying “What better place to start than here, where there is already a debate.”

If adopted on July 31, as now seems likely, Uruguay will become the first country in the world to establish a controlled marketplace for marijuana, which would be a major breakthrough and would break a taboo, challenge international laws, and set a precedent. Uruguay has also been debating cultivation for personal use for over two year. The approval of both measures would be a giant step forward.

Jeffrey Dhywood
Investigative writer,
Author of “World War D – The Case against prohibitionism, roadmap to controlled re-legalization”

Download a free 50-page excerpt: http://www.world-war-d.com/.

“World War-D” on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0984690409/
Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/worldward
Follow me on Twitter: @JDhywood
Become a better informed activist and support global drug policy reform!
Order your own copy of “Word War-D”

The reference book on the War on Drugs and prohibitionism
A guide to psychoactive substances and substance abuse
A blueprint for global drug policy reform and controlled legalization

Media inquiries- book reviews – speaking engagements: contact promo@world-war-d.com

– See more at: http://www.world-war-d.com/2013/07/25/mmj-likely-to-turn-20-in-the-us-on-august-4-2013/#sthash.RNFC1MG3.dpuf

Marijuana legalization scheduled for July 31 vote in Uruguayan Parliament with tacit OAS support

AOS (Organization of American States) endorse the marijuana legalization process

In a meeting with Uruguayan president Jose Mujica, OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza came as close as he could to fully endorsing marijuana legalization, declaring that the current prohibitionist strategy doesn’t work and that legalization is an alternate strategy that deserves a try.

This declaration was made during the presentation to the Parliament of Uruguay of a recently released OAS report on drug policy just 10 days before the marijuana legalization project is scheduled to come to a vote on July 31, following a year-long national debate. OAS Secretary General Insulza’s visit was largely seen as a show of support for the Uruguayan initiative and is expected to sway key sway votes still on the fence on the legalization issue.

http://www.prensalibre.com/internacional/OEA-abierto-Uruguay-legalizacion-marihuana_0_960504281.html

Jeffrey Dhywood
Investigative writer,
Author of “World War D – The Case against prohibitionism, roadmap to controlled re-legalization”

Download a free 50-page excerpt: http://www.world-war-d.com/.

The reference book on the War on Drugs and prohibitionism
A guide to psychoactive substances and substance abuse
A blueprint for global drug policy reform and controlled legalization

Media inquiries- book reviews – speaking engagements: contact promo@world-war-d.com

OAS Secretary General Presents Historic Drug Policy Report

Historic landmark for global drug policy reform

OAS drug policy report May 2013 — Historic landmark for global drug policy reform

The 2012 Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia, gave the OAS (Organization of American States) a mandate to study the impact of current drug policies and explore possible alternatives. The results of the $2.2 million study were presented on Friday, May 17, by OAS secretary general José Miguel Insulza to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos at the Casa de Nariño (the Colombian White House).

Santos said the report presented “simple, realistic options” for future action in order to “reduce the deaths, the violence that drug trafficking wreaks, the consumption of drugs and the profits of criminals.” The 400-page study emphasizes drug abuse as primarily a public health issue and suggests drug abusers should not be criminally prosecuted but rather treated as ill. “Decriminalization of drug use needs to be considered as a core element in any public health strategy,” it says.

The study included two documents: an analytical report to look at current trends, best practices, and policy challenges; and a set of scenarios about what might happen in the future and the results that could be expected in each scenario. The objective of the reports is to assist the Americas’ leaders to find a better way to address the challenges posed by illicit drugs.

The report – “Scenarios for the Drug Problem in the Americas, 2013-2025” – presents four possibilities for how drug policy could evolve in the Americas, most of which break from the current U.S.-led approach. These scenarios are stories about what ‘could’ happen in the future in and around the hemispheric drug system, based on current trends, and including relevant political, economic, social, cultural and international dynamics. The report calls for an open and serious discussion on marijuana legalization and the widespread implementation of harm reduction strategies.

The most controversial scenario would involve countries unilaterally abandoning the fight against drug production and trafficking in their territory in order to reduce violence. President Otto Perez Molina of Guatemala, a hard-hit cocaine transit country along with neighboring Honduras, made headlines before the Cartagena summit when he said he was tempted to put his country on such a path.

The report is available at http://idpc.net/publications/2013/05/oas-report-scenarios-for-the-drug-problem-in-the-americas-2013-2025

The OAS scenarios report will also be presented and discussed on Monday, in Washington, D.C., at the bi-annual meeting of the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD). Two weeks later (on June 4-6), the OAS will hold its General Assembly in Antigua, Guatemala, with drug policy as the principal item on the agenda. These developments and others will undoubtedly shape the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Drugs, currently scheduled for 2016.

Drug policy reform advocates called the report historic, though it made no specific proposals and said there was “no significant support” among the OAS’ 35 member states for legalizing cocaine, the illicit drug with the greatest impact on Latin America.

“This is the first time any multilateral organization anywhere has done something like this,” said Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance.

Rafael Lemaitre, spokesman for the White House’s drug czar, said in response to the report that “any suggestion that nations legalize drugs like heroin, cocaine, marijuana, and methamphetamine runs counter to an evidenced-based, public health approach to drug policy and are not viable alternatives.”

Statement by Ethan Nadelmann, Executive Director of the Drug Policy Alliance: http://www.drugpolicy.org/news/2013/05/oas-secretary-general-presents-historic-drug-policy-report-president-santos-colombia

“Never before has a multilateral organization engaged in such an inclusive and intellectually legitimate analysis of drug policy options. Indeed, it would have been inconceivable just two years ago that the OAS – or any multilateral organization – would publish a document that considers legalization, decriminalization and other alternatives to prohibitionist policies on an equal footing with status quo policies. Political pressures by the US and other governments would have made that impossible.

Much has changed, however, in the past few years. In 2009, former presidents Fernando Henrique Cardoso (Brazil), César Gaviria (Colombia) and Ernesto Zedillo (Mexico) joined with other members of the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy in saying the time had come to “break the taboo” on exploring alternatives to the failed war on drugs. In 2011, those presidents joined with former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz, former Federal Reserve Board chairman Paul Volcker, former Swiss President Ruth Dreifuss and other members of the Global Commission on Drug Policy in calling for fundamental reforms to national and global drug policies. Former presidents Jimmy Carter, Ricardo Lagos (Chile), Vicente Fox (Mexico) and Aleksander Kwasniewski (Poland) were among those who seconded their recommendations.

Beginning in late 2011, current presidents began to join the calls of their predecessors. These included President Santos in Colombia, Otto Perez Molina in Guatemala, José Mujica in Uruguay and then-President Felipe Calderón of Mexico. Simultaneously, the victorious marijuana legalization ballot initiatives in Washington State and Colorado transformed a previously hypothetical debate into real political reform. Other states will almost certainly follow their lead in coming years.

The OAS scenarios report thus represents the important next step in elevating and legitimizing a discussion that until a few years ago was effectively banned from official government circles. It is sure to have legs in a way that few reports by multilateral institutions ever do.

Illinois Senate passes medical marijuana bill

The number of medical marijuana states is set to reach 20 as the Illinois Senate approved medical marijuana by a 35-21 vote. Sponsored by Dem. State Senator Bill Haine, a former county prosecutor, the bill is the toughest in the nation and has support from doctors’ groups.

Governor Pat Quinn is expected to sign the bill, making Illinois the 2^nd most populous medical marijuana state after California.

Republic of Georgia considers legalizing marijuana

Minister of Labor, Health and Social Affairs, David Sergeyenko stated that the nation was considering new strategies to deal with the issue of drugs among them, the legalization of marijuana. David Sergeyenko pointed out “ban-related mechanisms,” such as Georgia’s laws against marijuana, “often entail a ricochet effect, which means strengthening and development of other directions,” a reference to distinguishing marijuana from other drugs. He added the issue requires a “well-considered strategy” and said the legalization of marijuana could be a part of it.

The strategy is one that could quickly gain some national attention, and political support. Multiple lawmakers in the Republic of Georgia have, in the past, called for the legalization of “soft drugs” such as cannabis. Advocates of such a move say that it will reduce violent crimes by reducing money funneled into the blackmarket. They also argue that it’ll bring revenue to the nation, including from tourists, and will bring about what should be a fundamental freedom for an individual to consume a nonlethal plant.

Discussions are only preliminary at the moment, but expect the issue to gain some traction, and attention, in the coming weeks.

Jeffrey Dhywood
Investigative writer,
Author of “World War D – The Case against prohibitionism, roadmap to controlled re-legalization”

Download a free 50-page excerpt: http://www.world-war-d.com/.

The reference book on the War on Drugs and prohibitionism
A guide to psychoactive substances and substance abuse
A blueprint for global drug policy reform and controlled legalization

Media inquiries- book reviews – speaking engagements: contact promo@world-war-d.com

Brazil between decriminalization and mandatory minimum sentencing

Seven justice ministers who served during the 1995-2003 government of Fernando Henrique Cardoso and the 2003-2011 administration of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva delivered a letter on Tuesday to Federal Supreme Court Justice Gilmar Mendes, advocating the decriminalization of possession of small amounts of drugs for personal use.

The former ministers pointed out to the failure of the criminalization of drug users, declaring “each citizen has the freedom to build his own mode of life provided that he respects the space of others…Treating the consumer as a citizen and offering him treatment structure by means of a policy of damage reduction is more appropriate than stigmatizing him as a criminal.”

The signers cite successful experiences in countries such as Germany, Argentina, Colombia, Spain, Italy and Portugal, which adopted decriminalization of drug possession for one’s own personal use as an “effective way” of fighting drug trafficking. The letter was released as the lower house of Congress is preparing to vote on a reform of the Drug Law that includes the possible compulsory treatment for drug users and increasing the mandatory minimum sentence for drug-related offenses from five to eight years.

Ex-president Fernando Henrique Cardoso is himself a strong advocate of drug policy reform and one of the founders of the Global Commission on Drug Policy.

Marijuana substitution for crack addicts in Bogota, Colombia

The city of Bogota is planning a system of “controlled consumption centers,” where addicts could be weaned off more hard-core drugs, such as heroin or crack, and slowly introduced to pot.

Although Colombia has successfully cracked down on its drug export business, many native Colombians are addicted to drugs, including the highly addictive cocaine derivative known as basuco, Agence France-Presse previously reported.

Basuco is smokable cocaine that is easily accessible and often gives users a euphoric high. It can also cause serious damage to vital organs.

Because of its continued prevalence, as well as its toxicity, basuco will be one of the drugs targeted by Bogota Mayor Gustavo Petro’s planned treatment centers, according to BBC Mundo. The treatment centers are part of a larger movement in Colombia to classify drug addiction as an issue of public health rather than crime, AFP noted in 2012.

“We’re in the process of looking for alternatives to a policy that, over 30 years, has caused deaths, has caused problems and has caused economic and public health difficulties and social problems in Colombia,” Rubén Ramírez, director of the Center for Study and Analysis in Coexistence and Public Safety, told BBC Mundo. “And among the ideas is one to do a pilot study on the substitution of [marijuana for cocaine].”

The initiative could be implemented within two months and would be used to study the effectiveness of marijuana on reducing and alleviating withdrawal symptoms in addicts who want to kick their cocaine or heroine habits.

For an update on news and major events concerning global drug policy reform, see http://www.slideshare.net/jdhywood/2013-in-progress.

Thank you for your continued support,

Jeffrey Dhywood
Investigative writer,
Author of “World War D – The Case against prohibitionism, roadmap to controlled re-legalization”
“World War-D” on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0984690409/
Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/worldward
Follow me on Twitter: @JDhywood
Become a better informed activist and support global drug policy reform!
Order your own copy of “Word War-D”

The reference book on the War on Drugs and prohibitionism
A guide to psychoactive substances and substance abuse
A blueprint for global drug policy reform and controlled legalization

Media inquiries- book reviews – speaking engagements: contact promo@world-war-d.com

Uruguay could become the first country in the world to legalize marijuana.

Uruguay launches a nationwide public debate over marijuana legalization – Its government deserves our full support

On November 15, 2012, the government of Uruguay submitted to its parliament a proposal for the legalization of the sale of marijuana under state control (possession and use of marijuana is already legal in Uruguay). The bill would create a National Cannabis Institute to regulate commercial marijuana production and distribution. The bill would allow the cultivation of up to six plants for personal use and the possession of up to 17 ounces.

If passed into law, Uruguay would become the first country in the world to formally legalize marijuana commerce.

With public opposition to marijuana legalization still at around 64%, President Mujica decided to slow down the project last December. The government is now launching a three-month public debate that will feature round tables, seminars, and conferences across the country.

This is unprecedented in the history of the drug policy reform movement. No government has ever taken such an active role in the drug policy debate. We cannot afford to drop the ball on Uruguay. If you haven’t done so yet, I urge you to sign our petition of support.If you have signed it already, please help its promotion through social network, email, blogging or any other way you can think of.
When you sign the letter underneath, it will be sent with your signature to President José Mujica and the two major opposition parties. Please share this blog post on Facebook, on Twitter and other social medias or by email.

[emailpetition id=”1″]

Remember: This is just a proposal for the time being, and it needs to go thru parliamentary approval. For those of you who think that it doesn’t go far enough, that it gives too much control to the government, just think about the uphill battle President José Mujica and his government are facing, and the expected US government’s stonewalling. There is absolutely no guarantee that this proposal will go thru, which is why we need to show our support.

For more impact, you can also tweet your own message of support to the following:

Presidency of Uruguay: @SCpresidenciauy

Senator Jorge Larrañaga, @guapolarranaga, leader of Alianza Nacional

Pedro Bordaberry, @PedroBordaberry, President of the CEN colorado, was minister of Tourism and Industry in the Government of Jorge Batlle, the first head of state in the world to call for the legalization of all drugs in 2000, shortly after taking office.

Become a better informed activist and support global drug policy reform! Order your own copy of “Word War-D”, the reference book on prohibitionism, psychoactive substances and drug policy reform!

Learn more about President José Mujica: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos %C3%A9_Mujica

Thank you for your continued support

The reference book on the War on Drugs and prohibitionism
A guide to psychoactive substances and substance abuse
A blueprint for global drug policy reform and controlled legalization

Media inquiries- book reviews – speaking engagements: contact promo@world-war-d.com

Colombia, Uruguay, Guatemala: Drug Policy Reform on the Move in Latin America

Colombia: Creation of an Advisory Commission on Drug Policy

Colombia’s drug legislation is being re-assessed in an attempt to tackle drug use, trafficking and other drugs-related issues that have plagued the country at all levels of society for the past 30 years. To that effect, the justice minister, Ruth Stella Correa, launched on January 29 the first meeting of the Advisory Commission on Drug Policy (Comisión Asesora de Política de Drogas). The commission includes Former President Cesar Gaviria and former director of the National Police, General Oscar Naranjo Trujillo, as well as a number of experts and academics. It will evaluate the results and impact of the strategies on drugs that have been implemented over the past ten years, consolidate the progress and achievements in different areas, and make recommendations for a new anti-drug strategy.

Cesar Gaviria was president of Colombia (1990-94) and secretary general of the Organization of American States (1994-2004). He is founder and Board-member of the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy and the Global Commission on Drug Policy. He is an outspoken advocate of drug policy reform.

General Oscar Naranjo Trujillo was director of the National Police from May 2007 to June 2012. As member of counter-intelligence and special forces, he was involved in all major operations against the powerful Colombian drug cartels since the 1980s, including Pablo Escobar and the Medellin Cartel. He has been credited with reducing the violence in Colombia during the 1980s and 1990s. He is special advisor on security issues in the government of newly elected Mexican President Pena Nieto.

The Justice Minister said in her Twitter account “We decided to form this Commission to guide us in the design of public policy with a holistic approach. We believe that the drug policy debate should take place within the framework of scientific and empirical evidence”. She further noted that the world drug problem requires that countries seek alternative public policies to properly confront the issue.

Speaking after the meeting with the commission, the justice minister introduced a new drug bill to legalize synthetic drugs such as ecstasy. The proposal would replace current laws, which ban cocaine and marijuana, although possession of small amounts is decriminalized. Stella Correa pointed out that the Constitutional Court had already spoken against the criminalization of possession for personal use of marijuana and cocaine.

Critics say the inclusion of synthetic drugs will only confuse the debate.

Uruguay to launch a broad national debate about the Marijuana legalization project in February:

The Uruguayan government introduced in June 2012 a project of legalization of marijuana under state control. The government has struggled to gain popular support for this project, with opposition still at around 64%. Last December President Mujica decided to slow down the project, originally scheduled to be sent to vote in the Parliament in December, and announced that he would allow more time for education and debate on the issue. In order to achieve greater consensus, the secretary general of the National Drug Board, July Calzada, announced On January 28 the launch in February of a broad debate on the issue in coordination with lawmakers.

We just wish that the US government would follow the lead of its Southern neighbors!

Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina: A man on a mission

Ever since taking office in January 2012, Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina, a retired general, has been on a mission: to look for alternatives to drug prohibition and the failed war on drugs, and to start a debate about drugs regulation. From the OAS in April 2012, to the UN in September, to the Davos Summit on January 23-25 and then the Latino-European summit on January 26-27, Perez Molina has been unrelenting in promoting his initiative. Under existential threats from narco-warfare following decades of military dictatorship and right-wing militia violence that brought his country to the brink of disintegration in the 1990s and early 2000s, and deeply committed to his country reconstruction, Perez Molina is acutely aware that he may not have another option. He now needs to get firm support behind his initiative. Read more http://www.world-war-d.com/2013/01/29/president-perez-molina-leadership-for-drug-policy-reform/

Drug Policy Reform: 2013 in progress 2013-01-29

A brief presentation of the major trends and events in the Drug Policy Debate in 2013. Latin America is taking the lead with Colombia setting up an Advisory Commission on Drug Policy, Uruguay launching a national debate on marijuana legalization, and Guatemala taking the lead of the global drug policy debate.

Meanwhile, the US Federal Government seems to take an hands-off approach to marijuana legalization while more states are lining up to legalize medical or recreation use.

Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina taking a leadership position in the fight for drug policy reform on the world scene

Guatemala has been particularly affected by the War on Drugs because of its location on the most transited drug trafficking route in the world and has become a battleground between the two dominant Mexican drug cartels, the Sinaloa Cartel and the brutal and much feared Los Zetas. The two cartels are caught in a ferocious fight for the control of the Caribbean and the Pacific routes, with local populations caught in the middle. The cartels largely outgun the police and army, and corrupt all institutions, starting with the justice system. Los Zetas notoriously recruit within the Kaibiles, the elite commando of the Guatemalan Military.

Since taking office in January 2012, Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina has been quite blunt in his assessment of the failure of the war on drugs, calling relentlessly for drug policy reform, advocating a regulatory approach to drugs rather than the extremes of a full-blown war on drugs or free-market legalization. Such positions have propelled him and his impoverished country on the world scene, where he is so far the first and lone head of state pushing openly and forcefully for global drug policy reform. As such, he is seen as a figurehead of the drug policy reform movement.

During a press conference on the opening day of World Economic Forum, Perez Molina, the first Guatemalan President to be invited to Davos as a speaker, called for a new approach towards regulating drugs, implemented “on a scientific basis” and geared at reducing the harms associated with the illegal drug trade. “Prohibition, this war on drugs, has seen cartels grow and the results are not what we looked for, … There is a new trend towards drugs now – not war, but a new perspective and a different way of dealing with the problem” declared Perez Molina.

In Davos, the right-wing retired general found an unlikely ally in billionaire liberal philanthropist Georges Soros who joined him to announce a Drug Policy Reform summit, scheduled for June 2013 in Tika, Guatemala. The summit will gather world leaders and policy organizations to discuss alternative drug control proposals. It will be organized in coordination with the Soros foundation, as well as the Beckley Foundation and the Carter Foundation. Based in the UK, the Beckley Foundation established a Guatemala office in June 2012 and works closely with President Perez Molina and his government on issues of drug policy. The Foundation director, Amanda Feilding, met with President Molina in Guatemala on January 17 to deliver proposals for alternative drug policy options.

George Soros, a major advocate for drug policy reform, stressed the illegal drug trade’s harmful effects on developing democracies, declaring “Drug policy has endangered political stability and security in many countries, and not just in Latin America.” He then evoked the situation in Mali which has turned since the Libyan revolution into a North African hub for the drug cartels, on the route from Latin America to Europe via West Africa. The cartels have taken advantage of the instability and established alliances with guerilla groups and Islamist extremists, while the instability affecting the entire region from Nigeria to West Africa, Tunisia and Libya, has turned this impoverished country, once one of Africa’s most stable, into a regional and international nexus of Islamic extremism.

Perez Molina is increasingly taking a leadership position in the fight for drug policy reform on the world scene. In a recent interview to the UK Observer, Perez Molina declared: “I believe western countries fail to understand the reality that countries such as Guatemala and those of Central America have to live in. There has been plenty of talk, but no effective response. I believe, ultimately, that this is due to a lack of understanding on the part of western countries.” He added that western leaders must look beyond their domestic agendas. “A message should be sent to the leaders of the countries with the biggest drug markets. They must think not only of… the context of their country, but of what is happening in the world, in regions such as Central America, where this destruction, this weakening of democracy, is happening. They must be open to recognising that the struggle against drugs, in the way it has been conducted, has failed.”

By bringing the drug policy debate to the World Economic Forum, Perez Molina is reaching out to the business community, which could open up a new strategy in the push for drug policy reform. While pushing for reform with other Latin American leaders at the UN and at the Organization of American States, Perez Molina has powerful potential allies within the business community, which could help build up the pressure and fuel the momentum for reform, as a surprising number of companies have voiced support for a regulated drugs market.

After Davos, Perez Molina headed to the first Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and European Union (EU) in Santiago de Chile on January 26-27, with 43 heads of state in attendance. The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) was founded in 2010 at the impulse of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and is essentially an OAS (Organization of the American States) minus the US and Canada, and with the prominent presence of Cuba. Cuba was suspended from the OAS in 1962 and officially reinstated in 2009, but still wasn’t invited to the 2012 OAS Summit in Cartagena, Colombia, at the insistence of the US and over the objections of virtually all other OAS members. The continued suspension of Cuba from the OAS has been one of the numerous sources of regional frustration with this institution. CELAC is a clear regional statement of independence from the Northerly Big Brother, and its close ally, little brother Canada as the region is experiencing unprecedented economic growth and starting to flex its political power. By reaching out towards Europe for its second summit in a relation of equals, CELAC is sending a clear message of frustration towards the US, signaling that the era of US diktats and vetoes is over. CELAC-EU President pro-tempore Sebastián Piñera expressed his desire for a productive summit and affirmed his determination to meet ambitious objectives.

At the request of Perez Molina and with the explicit support of presidents Juan Manuel Santos (Colombia), Laura Chinchilla (Costa Rica), Enrique Peña Nieto (México) and Dilma Rousseff (Brasil), the article 36 of the final declaration affirms the signers’ commitment to review, discuss and improve the effectiveness of the strategies and tools available to address comprehensively and in a balanced manner the consequences of drug trafficking and the issues of co-responsibility between nations.

The presidents explicitly supported the stance of Pérez Molina, who considered inappropriate to wait until 2016, as suggested by the United Nations to review the 1961 Convention on narcotic drugs and the 1971 and 1978 protocols. “We cannot keep putting off the debate for three more years, we must pick up the pace, because while we discuss consumers, traffickers and all those involved in the process keep dying. We must start immediately,” said the president in the Chilean capital in his address to the CELAC-EU. He added that the militarization of the fight against narco-trafficking has failed as well.

Perez Molina expects a change of attitude in the US following the decisive victories for drug legalization in Colorado and Washington, and is building on the momentum it created: “There is going to be a change away from the paradigm of prohibitionism and the war against drugs, and there is going to be a process that will take us towards regulation. So I would expect a more flexible and more open position from President Obama in his second term.”

The January 22 meeting between Washington State Governor Jay Inslee and Attorney General Eric holder seems to indicate that the Obama administration is indeed likely to take a hands-off approach to the Colorado and Washington marijuana legalization process. This would have significant consequences as a marijuana legalization bill was introduced on January 18 by the state house speaker in Hawaii and similar bills are expected to be introduced this year by lawmakers in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont.

Also at the Davos Forum, Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla said Wednesday that her country, Mexico and Colombia have opened talks with U.S. officials to discuss the impact of marijuana legalization and medical marijuana in a growing number of U.S. states. In reaction to the Guatemalan government call for a debate on drug regulation, Laura Chinchilla declared that criminalizing drug use is “far from the solution”, but ruled out legalization in her own country for the time being. Another of Davos’ participant, Mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto also declared his openness to an honest debate on legalization while reaffirming his personal opposition to the idea.

While many Latin American heads of state, starting with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, have expressed their openness to the drug legalization debate, none has crossed the line yet to join Perez Molina in the anti-prohibitionist camp. So far, only Uruguay has taken deliberate steps by introducing a project of marijuana legalization under state control in June 2012 that is still going through the parliamentary process. Still, Latin American leaders are increasingly aware that they may not have any other alternative, but are facing generally socially conservative populations that so far seem strongly opposed to the idea of legalization. Many Latin American countries have spent decades fighting drug trafficking, and have paid a tremendous human cost in the War on Drugs; changing gears towards legalization will represent a major paradigm shift that won’t happen overnight. By keeping the debate in the headlines, and by bringing it to wider and wider international audiences, Perez Molina is imposing a major revaluation of long established dogmas and forcing a scientific, pragmatic and reasoned approach to an issue mired in misconception and shrouded in moral preconceptions and taboos.

The drug policy debate has evolved considerably over the past year, with major advances that would have been unthinkable even a few years ago. Thanks to his quiet and unwavering determination, the retired general has been on a mission since taking office, and has brought the drug legalization debate to the Organization of American States in April 2012, to the UN in September, to the Ibero-American Summit in November and now to Davos and the Latino-European Summit. Under existential threats from narco-warfare following decades of military dictatorship and right-wing militia violence that brought his country to the brink of disintegration in the 1990s and early 2000s, and deeply committed to his country reconstruction, Perez Molina is acutely aware that the status quo is not an option, and is acting accordingly. For all appearances, there is no turning back.

Jeffrey Dhywood
Investigative writer,
Author of “World War D – The Case against prohibitionism, roadmap to controlled re-legalization” – http://www.world-war-d.com/.

jeffreydhywood@world-war-d.com

Reforma de la politica de drogas: Un repaso al 2012

2012 fue un año crucial y un momento crítico para la Política Global de Drogas. Un repaso de los eventos mayor de 2012 desde las declaraciones del Presidente de Guatemala Otto Perez Molina hasta la victoria por la legalización de la marijuana en Colorado y Washington.

Jeffrey Dhywood
Investigative writer,
Author of “World War D – The Case against prohibitionism, roadmap to controlled re-legalization”

Download a free 50-page excerpt: http://www.world-war-d.com/.

The reference book on the War on Drugs and prohibitionism
A guide to psychoactive substances and substance abuse
A blueprint for global drug policy reform and controlled legalization

Media inquiries- book reviews – speaking engagements: contact promo@world-war-d.com