Argentina decriminalizes drug use

[Caduceus Mercurius]

"This just in… A federal court in Argentina has decriminalized the personal consumption of drugs in that country. According to the court’s ruling, punishing drug users only “creates an avalanche of cases targeting consumers without climbing up in the ladder of drug trafficking.

 

[VerusDeus]

Damn I thought we, the dutch, would be the first to do such a thing. Anyway great news!

 

[HopsaFlops]

Damn I thought we, the dutch, would be the first to do such a thing. Anyway great news!

Great news indeed!

Btw, the Dutch did decriminalize drug possession for personal use a long time ago..

 

[Soulcatcher]

alexander -> maxima !

 

[Mescaline]

Good to see peoples' eyes are opening.
But I'm not sure if it's gonna be a permanent change. According to this source it wasn't the highest court making the decision, so it could be reversed.

Let's hope for the best though ^^

 

[Psychoid]

Nice one!!!

Looks like the world is finally realizing how prohibition only creates more problems. Hope Canada follows soon!!

 

[Lion]

be cautious on your over-enthousiasm..

 

[Mesaja]

Nice one!!!

Looks like the world is finally realizing how prohibition only creates more problems. Hope Canada follows soon!!

I think Canada will end the prohibition next.
And yes,great news about Argentina.People`s eyes r opening finnaly.
Let`s just hope that there will be no conservative idiots to opose the decision.
Maybe something will happen in Macedonia to...till the end of the century

 

[Jakobien]

Strangely enough I was reading this here (note the date!):

Buenos Aires (Mar Del Plata)

Updated: 31/10/2006

Smoking tolerance level: 4.5 in winter 3.0 in summer

Legislation: Suposedly consuming cannabis is legal in uruguay and argentina, although it is illegal to buy or sell it, to grow it and to smoke it in public places. It is also legal to have a small amount "only for personal use" of cannabis, that is less than 5 grams, but in practice every time you smoke or carry it you may be stopped by the police. This doesn't stop some people from smoking in the streets and parks.

But nice, still planning to move there by the end of July! :rock:

 

[Caduceus Mercurius]

be cautious on your over-enthousiasm..

I do think there's good reason to become very enthusiastic about this. Every government which decides to make an experiment with implementing harm reduction principles is going to end up with data which confirm the effectiveness of this approach. That data may then encourage other countries to follow suit.

By the way, even Christians can be convinced of implementing principles of harm reduction, if you show them why it is the most compassionate way to approach the drug problem. With the medicinal qualities of cannabis becoming so widely known, you may even point out to them that cannabis was used for such purposes in biblical days as well.

 

[Caduceus Mercurius]

Strangely enough I was reading this here (note the date!):

Maybe they expanded it from cannabis to include other drugs as well? Does the article give a clue?


Despenalizan el consumo de drogas en Argentina
Internacional - Miércoles 23 de abril (10:00 hrs.)

* Un tribunal de Buenos Aires anula miles de causas en trámites de acusados por poseer marihuana

* Consideran que consumidores son el factor de una cadena que termina en el narcotraficante


El Financiero en línea

Buenos Aires, 23 de abril.- Un tribunal federal de Buenos Aires despenalizó el consumo individual de drogas en la capital argentina, con lo que quedarían anuladas miles de causas en trámites de personas acusadas de poseer pequeñas cantidades de marihuana, según el fallo que publica hoy la prensa de Buenos Aires.

El fallo señala que la Sala 1 de Cámara Federal de Apelaciones declaró la inconstitucionalidad de artículos de la ley que castiga a los consumidores de drogas, promulgada en 1989.

La norma cuestionada castiga a los consumidores por considerar que son la base de una cadena que termina en el narcotraficante.

Pero el tribunal dictaminó que tal presunción solo generó "una avalancha de expedientes destinados a consumidores sin lograr ascender en los eslabones de la cadena del tráfico" de drogas.

El fallo se aplicó al caso de dos jóvenes detenidos por la Policía por tenencia de cigarrillos de marihuana y pastillas de éxtasis cuando acudían a una fiesta de música electrónica en Buenos Aires, en mayo de 2007.

Aunque la cuestión debe dirimirse en la Corte Suprema de Justicia, el fallo del tribunal de Buenos Aires está en sintonía con la política del Gobierno de Cristina Fernández de Kirchner en favor de reformar las leyes para despenalizar el consumo de drogas.

Durante la 51 Sesión Extraordinaria del Consejo Económico y Social de la ONU, celebrada el mes pasado en Viena, el ministro argentino de Justicia y Seguridad, Aníbal Fernández, planteó el "fracaso absoluto" de la política de castigar a los consumidores de drogas.

De esta forma, y por primera vez en 30 años, Argentina abandonó su adhesión a la postura estadounidense de perseguir tanto al traficante de drogas como al consumidor. (Con información de EFE/MVC)

 

[Jakobien]

Strangely enough I was reading this here (note the date!):

Maybe they expanded it from cannabis to include other drugs as well? Does the article give a clue?


Despenalizan el consumo de drogas en Argentina
Internacional - Miércoles 23 de abril (10:00 hrs.)

* Un tribunal de Buenos Aires anula miles de causas en trámites de acusados por poseer marihuana

* Consideran que consumidores son el factor de una cadena que termina en el narcotraficante

El Financiero en línea

Buenos Aires, 23 de abril.- Un tribunal federal de Buenos Aires despenalizó el consumo individual de drogas en la capital argentina, con lo que quedarían anuladas miles de causas en trámites de personas acusadas de poseer pequeñas cantidades de marihuana, según el fallo que publica hoy la prensa de Buenos Aires.

El fallo señala que la Sala 1 de Cámara Federal de Apelaciones declaró la inconstitucionalidad de artículos de la ley que castiga a los consumidores de drogas, promulgada en 1989.

La norma cuestionada castiga a los consumidores por considerar que son la base de una cadena que termina en el narcotraficante.

Pero el tribunal dictaminó que tal presunción solo generó "una avalancha de expedientes destinados a consumidores sin lograr ascender en los eslabones de la cadena del tráfico" de drogas.

El fallo se aplicó al caso de dos jóvenes detenidos por la Policía por tenencia de cigarrillos de marihuana y pastillas de éxtasis cuando acudían a una fiesta de música electrónica en Buenos Aires, en mayo de 2007.

Aunque la cuestión debe dirimirse en la Corte Suprema de Justicia, el fallo del tribunal de Buenos Aires está en sintonía con la política del Gobierno de Cristina Fernández de Kirchner en favor de reformar las leyes para despenalizar el consumo de drogas.

Durante la 51 Sesión Extraordinaria del Consejo Económico y Social de la ONU, celebrada el mes pasado en Viena, el ministro argentino de Justicia y Seguridad, Aníbal Fernández, planteó el "fracaso absoluto" de la política de castigar a los consumidores de drogas.

De esta forma, y por primera vez en 30 años, Argentina abandonó su adhesión a la postura estadounidense de perseguir tanto al traficante de drogas como al consumidor. (Con información de EFE/MVC)

This article doensn't really divide between marihuana and other "drogas", also the actual contents of the new law aren't mentioned. Only the first head says people who posess small amounts of marihuana will not be arrested anymore.
Still, there was a court case in which 2 youngsters were arrested for posession of joints and xtc pills, and it was decided in their advantage (?).

So, who knows :roll:

 

[Lion]

be cautious on your over-enthousiasm..

I do think there's good reason to become very enthusiastic about this. Every government which decides to make an experiment with implementing harm reduction principles is going to end up with data which confirm the effectiveness of this approach. That data may then encourage other countries to follow suit.

By the way, even Christians can be convinced of implementing principles of harm reduction, if you show them why it is the most compassionate way to approach the drug problem. With the medicinal qualities of cannabis becoming so widely known, you may even point out to them that cannabis was used for such purposes in biblical days as well.

It's a good step forward, that's for sure.
But I'm still staying sceptical about this..
I'm in no doubt many counterparts want to see this idea fall. And fall hard.

 

[HeartCore]

Btw, the Dutch did decriminalize drug possession for personal use a long time ago..

That was before the religious retards got in power in our country, they have been in power for the past 6-7 years and are slowly but surely breaking down the situation.

Our prime minister is the kind that sucks Bush dick as if he was the returned Son of God, acting without questioning and basically scamming our entire country.

 

[Guest]

I can't believe what I'm reading...

Damn, did they really legalised the consumption of ANY drug ???

 

[Jakobien]

I can't believe what I'm reading...

Damn, did they really legalised the consumption of ANY drug ???

We don't know, the only article that has been published so far just doesn't mention which drugs are legal to consume and which aren't. Let's wait for some more info.

 

[st.bot.32]

Interesting, but I want to play devil's advocate here for a minute, assuming they are say decriminalizing possession of ALL drugs. First, this law is very sensible for the user, for the average joe who is smoking a J and not hurting anyone at all. Also I'm speaking from purely a Canadian perspective, so I'm not entirely aware of the situation in Argentina.

As we all know, people have been doing "drugs" for thousands of years and AREN'T going to stop anytime soon. The more the goverment clamps down on drugs, the more lucrative the business becomes, and the more money there is to be made off of it by the cartels. We've seen the statistics that in the countries with the heaviest anti drug laws, the growth of users is often the highest (like the 4x growth in cocaine use in Europe).

The only real solution to end the criminal elements related to the distribution of genuinely addictive and harmful substances (like smack and meth) will be to tax and regulate such substances, and provide services for addicts so they can come down, get clean needles, etc. This undercuts the drug lords taking the cash flow out of their hands, provides clean and regulated chemicals that won't be laced, and ultimately helps the end user as well, as well as non-drug users (less crime, less disease being spread, less junkies on the streets etc).

The judge seems to think the law can now just target the drug cartels and not waste time on the users who don't actually hurt anyone. The thing is, we know that the war on drugs benefits drug cartels and and corrupt law officials with lucrative high prices and bribes, etc.. But now this basically gives criminal drug cartels free reign to sell as much as they want.

So this change doesn't go far enough. Good for those of us who like a J or a bit of mushrooms now and then.. but not really useful for the junkies who really need the help (not that they are getting help right now anyway). And it just makes selling drugs all the more lucrative a business to criminal elements. Hopefully it is a baby step in the right direction though.

Just my 2 cents..