Argentina court ruling would allow personal use of pot
(CNN) -- Argentina's Supreme Court ruled Tuesday it is unconstitutional to punish an adult for private use of marijuana as long as it doesn't harm anyone else.
The unanimous ruling makes Argentina the second Latin American country in the past four days to allow personal use of a formerly illegal drug.
The case in question involved five young men who were arrested for having a few marijuana cigarettes in their pockets.
Supreme Court Justice Carlos Fayt, who at one time supported laws that make personal use of marijuana illegal, told the state-run Telam news agency that "reality" changed his mind.
Argentina's action came amid growing momentum in Latin America toward decriminalization of possessing small amounts of certain drugs.
Mexico enacted a law Friday that decriminalizes possessing low quantities of most drugs, including marijuana, heroin, cocaine and LSD.
Earlier this year, a Brazilian appeals court ruled that possession of drugs for personal use is not illegal.
Analysts see the shift in attitude as recognition that current methods in the war on drugs are not working.
"It seems quite clear that drug policy based primarily on interdiction and enforcement has failed," said Robert Pastor, a Latin America national security adviser for President Jimmy Carter in the late 1970s. "Therefore, it's natural for people to stand back and ask, 'Is there a better way?' "
Pastor noted that some recent research has shown that handling drug use as a health challenge and focusing on treatment may be more efficient.
"What Argentina and Mexico are doing in many ways is blazing a new path," Pastor said.
Peter Hakim, president of the Inter-American Dialogue policy institute in Washington, sees a trend at work.
"It's all part of a harm-reduction approach," Hakim said, noting that policymakers are shifting away from getting rid of drugs and toward figuring out how to reduce harm to users and society.
Mexico has been considering decriminalization for several years, particularly under the administration of former President Vicente Fox, who held office from 2000-2006. But efforts by the Mexican congress toward decriminalization met with strong resistance from the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush.
"Mexico tried it under Fox and the U.S. got so snippety that they had to back down," Hakim said.
President Obama's inauguration in January may have changed the calculus, analysts said. The Mexican congress passed the measure in April and President Felipe Calderon quietly signed it into law.
In a visit to the United States, Fox said in May a new approach is needed.
"I believe it's time to open the debate over legalizing drugs," he told CNN. "It must be done in conjunction with the United States, but it is time to open the debate."
Earlier this year, Fox's predecessor and two other former leaders of Latin American nations also called for the decriminalization of marijuana for personal use and a change in strategy in the war on drugs.
The three ex-presidents were members of the 17-nation Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy, which issued its recommendations in February after studying the issue for a year.
"The problem is that current policies are based on prejudices and fears and not on results," former Colombian President Cesar Gaviria said at a news conference in which the commission's recommendations were presented.
Former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso of Brazil said the group called for only the decriminalization of marijuana and not other illicit drugs because "you have to start somewhere."
Fox's predecessor, Ernesto Zedillo, was president of Mexico from 1994 to 2000. Gaviria was president of Colombia from 1990 to 1994. And Cardoso led Brazil from 1995 to 2002.
In his swing through the United States, Fox said any change in drug laws must be accompanied by an education campaign in schools and homes. And because the United States is a large consumer of marijuana that comes from Latin America, any steps toward legalization must be supported in Washington, he said.
Gaviria had said in February that the time was right to start a debate on the subject because of the new administration in Washington.
"In many states in the United States, as is the case in California, they have begun to change federal policies with regard to tolerating marijuana for therapeutic purposes. And in Washington there's some consensus that the current policy is failing," Gaviria said.
The Inter-American Dialogue's Hakim said one recent poll showed that 29 percent of Americans think the best way to deal with marijuana is to legalize it.
Pastor, the former Carter official, wondered whether anyone in Washington is paying attention.
"The question," he said Tuesday, "is whether the United States will be open to this new path."
Edit:
I just caught this... I wonder if it was intentional :lol:
Quote:
"It seems quite clear that drug policy based primarily on interdiction and enforcement has failed," said Robert Pastor, a Latin America national security adviser for President Jimmy Carter in the late 1970s. "Therefore, it's natural for people to stand back and ask, 'Is there a better way?' "
Pastor noted that some recent research has shown that handling drug use as a health challenge and focusing on treatment may be more efficient.
"What Argentina and Mexico are doing in many ways is blazing a new path," Pastor said.
08-26-2009, 06:00
Kadagar_AV
Re: First Mexico... now Argentina
:2thumbsup::2thumbsup::2thumbsup:
08-26-2009, 06:44
Sheogorath
Re: First Mexico... now Argentina
Suddenly, Argentina's tourism industry booms.
08-26-2009, 06:46
LittleGrizzly
Re: First Mexico... now Argentina
My congratulations to these forward thinking countries able to see the truth staring them in the face... let us hope other more backwards countries can one day reach such a level of understanding on the issues....
08-26-2009, 07:43
AlexanderSextus
Re: First Mexico... now Argentina
C'mon obama! Everyone else is doing it!:yes:
08-26-2009, 07:51
a completely inoffensive name
Re: First Mexico... now Argentina
Looks the like central and south american states are realizing that legalization of marijuana will cripple the drug cartels that probably consist of most of their crime.
Our statistics are supposedly different because are a smaller country :laugh4:
08-26-2009, 10:59
InsaneApache
Re: First Mexico... now Argentina
Quote:
Originally Posted by LittleGrizzly
My congratulations to these forward thinking countries able to see the truth staring them in the face... let us hope other more backwards countries can one day reach such a level of understanding on the issues....
In other news those well known 'progressives' New Labour are about to criminalise a whole new raft of legal highs. A crude name for a vagina springs to mind. :yes:
08-26-2009, 11:32
CountArach
Re: First Mexico... now Argentina
Quote:
Originally Posted by InsaneApache
In other news those well known 'progressives' New Labour are about to criminalise a whole new raft of legal highs. A crude name for a vagina springs to mind. :yes:
Our statistics are supposedly different because are a smaller country :laugh4:
Bwhahahaha!
Can't blame that womans sources though, she read plenty of..... TRAVEL GUIDES! :laugh4:
And people still claim Fox News to be a reliable source of information? :inquisitive:
08-26-2009, 12:05
Fragony
Re: First Mexico... now Argentina
Quote:
Originally Posted by HoreTore
Bwhahahaha!
Can't blame that womans sources though, she read plenty of..... TRAVEL GUIDES! :laugh4:
Makes perfect sense, that is how we lure tourists, Amsterdam being a cesspool of corruption and organised crime, who can stay away after that?
08-26-2009, 15:56
Riedquat
Re: First Mexico... now Argentina
Gah!
Nothing changed, now you are allowed to use marihuana in private... good, problem is everybody was using it in public from years now. That was illegal and is illegal still. The law was needed just to regulate the police internal normative, because the "intern laws" they were using for years now were a bit in contradiction with the national laws about marihuana and drugs consumption.
The true breakthrough was a year ago (IIRC), when they legalized drugs cultivation for personal use, of course it was a complete useless law, you could cultivate it for your personal consumption but unable to consume because it was illegal... doh!
Possession as far as I know is still illegal and doesn't matter if its for personal use (as far as police is concerned), do you want to guess what law will change next year? :idea2:
Dont know about Mexico, but naming my country as a leading example is so wrong... :help:
08-26-2009, 16:45
naut
Re: First Mexico... now Argentina
Quote:
Originally Posted by a completely inoffensive name
Looks the like central and south american states are realizing that legalization of marijuana will cripple the drug cartels that probably consist of most of their crime.
Hmm. Not really. Pot is not an international drug. Most of it is grown in the country or city of it's distribution. 45% of the US's pot comes from the US itself, for example. Drugs that are transported are always C, Opiates and the ingredients to create Amphetamines. :balloon2:
08-26-2009, 16:48
HoreTore
Re: First Mexico... now Argentina
Quote:
Originally Posted by Psychonaut
Hmm. Not really. Pot is not an international drug. Most of it is grown in the country or city of it's distribution. 45% of the US's pot comes from the US itself, for example. Drugs that are transported are always C, Opiates and the ingredients to create Amphetamines. :balloon2:
.....And the various pill-delights.
08-26-2009, 16:53
naut
Re: First Mexico... now Argentina
Quote:
Originally Posted by HoreTore
.....And the various pill-delights.
Most pills are Amphetamines, of varying strength....
08-26-2009, 17:29
HoreTore
Re: First Mexico... now Argentina
Quote:
Originally Posted by Psychonaut
Most pills are Amphetamines, of varying strength....
I'll take your word for that, my knowledge is quite limited...
08-26-2009, 17:42
Fragony
Re: First Mexico... now Argentina
Mine isn't, most exported pills are MDMA or MDA certainly not amphetamins that is readily availlable everywhere.
08-26-2009, 17:47
naut
Re: First Mexico... now Argentina
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fragony
Mine isn't, most exported pills are MDMA or MDA certainly not amphetamins that is readily availlable everywhere.
Frag. E is your pretty bog standard amphetamine. Afterall MDMA stands for, 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine. Usually cut with detergent or other nasties. Although you'll find Piperazine is actually what the dealer is selling, not E.
08-26-2009, 18:00
Fragony
Re: First Mexico... now Argentina
amphetamine = speed. Yes it's an ingredient but MDMA and MDA don't have the same effects as speed.
08-26-2009, 18:13
naut
Re: First Mexico... now Argentina
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fragony
amphetamine = speed. Yes it's an ingredient but MDMA and MDA don't have the same effects as speed.
Yes. I know, I am a Uni student afterall. Plus I'm a chemist at heart so I always classify the varying forms under the term: amphetamine(s). It's simpler that way. Why anyone would want to get into the stuff I have no idea. Dealer's are not nice people, and amphetamines are easy to cut with all kinds of rubbish.
08-26-2009, 18:15
InsaneApache
Re: First Mexico... now Argentina
I'll say. Not that I'd know of course, never having taken an illegal drug in my life but I do believe you can get your kip the same day. Not two days later. So I've heard.
08-26-2009, 18:53
HoreTore
Re: First Mexico... now Argentina
Quote:
Originally Posted by Psychonaut
Yes. I know, I am a Uni student afterall. Plus I'm a chemist at heart
Dutch trumps uni student chemist.
08-27-2009, 00:06
a completely inoffensive name
Re: First Mexico... now Argentina
Quote:
Originally Posted by Psychonaut
Hmm. Not really. Pot is not an international drug. Most of it is grown in the country or city of it's distribution. 45% of the US's pot comes from the US itself, for example. Drugs that are transported are always C, Opiates and the ingredients to create Amphetamines. :balloon2:
Nevertheless as pot becomes legal, companies will sprout to capture the market, cutting profits from the drug lords.
And since when is reducing the amount of pot the drug lords are making down to 45% of what it once was, bad? From my math that means 55% of pot is imported which seems like a majority to me.
08-27-2009, 01:37
InsaneApache
Re: First Mexico... now Argentina
If alcohol was discovered tommorow, it'd be a class A drug.
08-27-2009, 02:54
Mooks
Re: First Mexico... now Argentina
Quote:
Originally Posted by a completely inoffensive name
Nevertheless as pot becomes legal, companies will sprout to capture the market, cutting profits from the drug lords.
And that my friend, is every pothead's wet dream. Not having to deal with the usual ******** of "Ya ill be there in 20" and having to wait close to a hour, or having to weigh out the bag and finding out it was skimped. Or the already outrageous price (I think it is, 1.5 grams of weed for 10 dollars? WTF!). Instead of all that just going up to the corner store for a pack of ciggerates and a couple of spliffs (Which would cost half of what it is today once the market gets settled).
Itd be a druglords worst nightmare though, as he would have to move to harder drugs or get....*gasp* a real job.
Not that I know any of this from real experience though, purely 2nd hand experience.
08-29-2009, 05:19
Caius
Re: First Mexico... now Argentina
Please smokers don't celebrate yet. There is misunderstanding about the issue, it is illegal but you can't be arrested. It is called "ensurance of the Liberty Right."
Oh yes, it is illegal. Except that they can't get you when you are smoking. Besides, if you get caught, you are not suspect of possesion of drugs, you are WITNESS of it, hence you have to point out to the drug dealer. I think that being a witness in a judicial case forces you to tell the truth, else you go to jail for giving a "False Testimony".
Quote:
My congratulations to these forward thinking countries able to see the truth staring them in the face... let us hope other more backwards countries can one day reach such a level of understanding on the issues....
You do realize that we fight against drugs, yet some people celebrate.
And if you call a forward thinking country Argentina, a country that nationalized the country flag Airline when almost NO COUNTRY has a State Airline, and tries to bring the Keynesian model when everyone opts for the Liberal model, then that is damn forward thinking country!
08-29-2009, 06:08
Beskar
Re: First Mexico... now Argentina
I think the Portugal system works best. Makes drugs legal to use, but illegal to supply.
The bigger market it brings, the more it lures the drug dealers out of hiding and it saves more on taxes as you are only targeting the suppliers. Plus, you can do a service where users can "submit" who their dealer is, busting them that way as well.
