Deutsche Welle, 29 May 2013
The
Organization of American States has called for a rethink on drugs, suggesting
legalization. The focus would be on patients instead of criminals, with
controlled sales replacing illegal transactions.
The
Organization of American States (OAS) has proposed a gradual decriminalization
of drugs as a strategy to combat the increasingly powerful drug mafias. A
recent study commissioned by the organization has recommended that in future
the use of drugs should no longer be considered a crime, but instead seen as a
health issue.
The
$2.2-million (1.7 million euros) study was commissioned in response to an
initiative by Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos at last year's Summit of
the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia. The US delegation had initially rejected a
demand from the Latin American countries to put the drugs debate on the
summit's agenda.
More than 50,000 people have died in the war against drugs cartels in Mexico |
Santos,
together with Guatemala President Otto Perez Molina and El Salvador President
Mauricio Funes, has called for alternatives to the military strategy in the
fight against the drug mafia. In Mexico alone, more than 50,000 people have
fallen victim in the war against drugs cartels, without any significant
weakening on the part of the cartels.
According
to the European policing agency Europol, the leading Mexican cartels Los Zetas
and Sinaloa have become "global market coordinators for cocaine smuggling
in Europe and North America." Even small Central American countries acting
as transit countries have suffered from the violence of the drug cartels.
Controlled
marijuana sales
The study,
recently presented by Santos and OAS Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza,
recommends the legalization of "soft drugs" such as marijuana. This
would then bring the production, sale and use of the drug under control and
away from criminal influence. According to the study, drug addicts should be
given improved access to rehabilitation measures, and should be seen as
patients rather than criminals. The study aims to launch a debate on the entire
American continent, leading to a more effective fight against drugs.
"There
is a clear contradiction: on the one hand, we treat a drug addict as a sick
person, but on the other hand we want to punish his drug use," said
Insulza. The study suggests that if the production and consumption of marijuana
were to be legalized, the cultivation of marijuana would no longer be
profitable for the drug mafias. For the moment, the cartels enjoy a high profit
margin thanks to street sales that exceed the actual price of production
several times over.
Change of
course in EU
Santos has been critical of the US drug policies |
Latin
America is following the lead of the EU: the decision to expand treatment
services for heroin addicts in almost all European countries in 2012 led to a
noticeable decline in demand. In Europe, marijuana is by far the most widely
used illegal substance. The controlled cultivation and sale of the substance in
Latin America would thus have a direct impact on Europe, which would then have
to follow Latin America's lead.
This,
however, would require a change of course. Decriminalization is mentioned
nowhere in the current EU Drugs Strategy for the years 2013-2020 - instead, the
recommendations speak of continuing the existing approaches which include the
destruction of drug cultivation fields in the countries of origin.
In Europe,
Portugal is seen as a pioneer in the legalization strategy. There, drug use and
possession have been decriminalized since 2001, though consumers may not carry
more than 10 times the daily dose. Since decriminalization, dependency rates
have not increased and the number of drug-related deaths has declined by about
35 percent, which authorities have attributed to a targeted assistance of drug
addicts.
No
legalization of cocaine
In the
past, the Colombian president has accused the United States of being ambiguous
in the fight against drugs, demanding that Colombian farmers abandon illicit
drug cultivation but at the same time legalizing marijuana use in some US
states. While his own country fights against the drug cartels, "the
gringos relax with a joint," he said.
Colombiais
the world's largest cocaine producer, with the Colombian drug cartels exporting
around 100 billion euros ($128.5 billion) worth every year, primarily to the US
and Europe. Legalization of cocaine was not recommended in the OAS report.
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