Argentina and Mexico have taken significant steps towards
decriminalising drugs amid a growing Latin American backlash
against the US-sponsored "war on drugs".
Argentina's supreme court has ruled it unconstitutional to
punish people for using marijuana for personal consumption, an
eagerly awaited judgment that gave the government the green
light to push for further liberalisation.
It followed Mexico's decision to stop prosecuting people for
possession of relatively small quantities of marijuana, cocaine,
heroin and other drugs. Instead, they will be referred to
clinics and treated as patients, not criminals.
Brazil and Ecuador are also considering partial
decriminalisation as part of a regional swing away from a
decades-old policy of crackdowns still favoured by Washington.
"The tide is clearly turning. The 'war on drugs' strategy has
failed," Fernando Henrique Cardoso, a former Brazilian
president, told the Guardian. Earlier this year, he and two
former presidents of Colombia and Mexico published a landmark
report calling for a new departure.
"The report of the Latin American Commission on Drugs and
Democracy has certainly helped to open up the debate about more
humane and efficient policies. But, most of all, the facts are
speaking by themselves," said Cardoso.
Reform campaigners have long argued that criminalisation
enriched drug cartels, fuelled savage turf wars, corrupted state
institutions and filled prisons with addicts who presented no
real threat to society.
The US used its considerable influence to keep Latin America and
the UN wedded to hardline policies which kept the focus on
interdictions and jail sentences for consumers as well as
dealers. The "war" was first declared by the Nixon
administration.