President of Argentina may ease personal drug use laws

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by Change | 6 Aug 2008

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As with the UK, Argentina are now talking about softening their approach on drug use.

President speaks out about drug laws

This week President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner reiterated her views on personal drug use. She spoke of the need to decriminalize personal drug use and to put a stop to dealers and barons.

In a meeting of the National Investigation into the Consumption of Alcohol, Tobacco, Psychopharmaceuticals and Illegal Drugs, the President remarked "I don't like it when people easily condemn someone who has an addiction as if he were a criminal, as if he were a person who should be persecuted. Those who should be persecuted are those who sell the substances, those who give it away, those who traffic in it."

General consensus in Argentinia is that the decriminalization of drugs could result in wider drug use. Whilst this is certainly a widespread preoccupation, the Argentine government continue to press Congress to pass the decriminalization legislation by the end of 2008.

According to Anibal Fernandez, the minister of security and justice, decriminalization of the consumer should include second-generation human rights, but at the same time there should be a strong policy of prevention, so that no one falls in the situation of consuming any substance."

Such policies have been adopted throughout Europe and other parts of Latin America. Brazil and Colombia have passed laws decriminalizing drug use in an effort to combat the spread of HIV among injecting drug users. Ethan Nadelmann, founder and executive director of the New York-based Drug Policy Alliance, notes that "the evidence generally shows that the decriminalization of possession is not clearly associated with any increase in illicit drug use.

The push towards decriminalization of personal possession commonly involves decreasing the criminal sanction for possession of cannabis, as well as providing alternatives to imprisonment for those arrested for drug possession.

Ex-Mexican President Vicente Fox did attempt decriminalization of drugs with a series of proposals, however, a harsh reaction from the Bush administration caused him to withdraw his attempt.

Today, two-thirds of Americans support drug treatment instead of jail time for first-time drug offenders, therefore the concept has gained ground in the United States now, too.

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