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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
Time: 4:04 am
Time: 4:04 am
Results for drug policy (latin america)
3 results foundAuthor: Jelsma, Martin Title: A Breakthrough in the Making? Shifts in the Latin American Drug Policy Debate Summary: Remarkable drug policy developments are taking place in Latin America. This is not only at the level of political debate, but is also reflected in actual legislative changes in a number of countries. All in all there is an undeniable regional trend of moving away from the ‘war on drugs’. This briefing explains the background to the opening of the drug policy debate in the region, summarises the most relevant aspects of the ongoing drug law reforms in some countries, and makes a series of recommendations that could help to move the debate forward in a productive manner. The high expectations of a high-level debate on current drug policy regimes in the Americas at the sixth Organization of American States (OAS) Summit in April 2012, in Cartagena, Colombia, were quickly tempered to a general approval that the topic had been discussed at this level at all. The summit's outcome can be called both a failure and a success: no alternatives to prohibition were discussed, but all agreed that the effectiveness of current strategies should be looked into. The OAS was mandated to undertake a study and discuss the gathered evidence for more effective alternative strategies in 2013. The International Conference of Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Heads of Specialized National Agencies against the World Drug Problem, in Lima on 25 and 26 of June, will be the next opportunity for high level policy makers to discuss both the content and form of this evaluation or study. Another opportunity arises concurrently on June 26, in New York, where there will be a thematic debate on 'Drugs and Crime as a Threat to Development' on the occasion of the UN International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, at the 66th Session of the United Nations General Assembly. It was due to the insistence and efforts of Presidents Otto Pérez Molina (Guatemala) and Juan Manuel Santos (Colombia), and the extensive media attention in the run-up to the April Summit in Cartagena, that the issue was present at all on the agenda of the Summit. At last, some of the frustrations with U.S.-promoted drug control policies were on the table at the highest political level in the American hemisphere: the “genie was freed from the bottle”. Behind closed doors and for Presidents and heads of delegations only, the “hot but hidden” issue was discussed on the Sunday afternoon, in “an open and frank manner”, according to the host President Santos. The emergence of an increasingly independent and assertive Latin America insisting on a change of direction in drug control policies reflects an important shift in its relationship with the United States. The demand for “democratization” of the debate and alternative policy options stems from the perception that Latin American societies pay a disproportionate price in lost lives, hijacked justice systems, abuses in overcrowded prisons, and displaced small farmers, because of the U.S.-led strategy that has prioritised stemming the supply of drugs over reducing its own demand. The U.S. Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control acknowledged as much in its latest report, saying that “the United States must do significantly more to reduce our country’s demand for illegal drugs. Ultimately, it is drug consumption in the United States that fuels violence throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.” This is not to say that U.S. society hasn’t also paid a high price for repressive domestic drug law enforcement, in terms of drug-related violence and overcrowded prisons. CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS • Ensure that the OAS-mandated study on alternative drug policy options will be an honest and open-minded reflection on different models and strategies • Support moves towards the legal regulation of the cannabis market and explore with a coalition of like-minded countries how best to resolve the legal conflict with the UN conventions • Elaborate substance-specific proposals for managing different drug submarkets • Experiment with harm reduction policy measures to reduce the level of drug-related violence • Support the legal right to coca chewing and allow a licit coca market to develop in the whole region • Secure civil society participation in the debate on drug policy reform • Challenge provisions in the UN conventions that are obstacles to advancing with evidence-based reforms. Details: Amsterdam: Transnational Institute, 2012. 16p. Source: Internet Resource: Series on Legislative Reform of Drug Policies Nr. 21: Accessed July 20, 2012 at: http://www.druglawreform.info/images/stories/documents/dlr21.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Central America URL: http://www.druglawreform.info/images/stories/documents/dlr21.pdf Shelf Number: 125697 Keywords: Drug Abuse PolicyDrug Policy (Latin America)Drug Use and Abuse |
Author: Carvalho, Ilona Szabo de Title: Latin America Awakes: A Review of the New Drug Policy Debate Summary: Latin America is confronted with astonishing levels of organised and interpersonal violence, much of it connected to illicit narcotics production and trafficking and the so-called "war on drugs". There is evidence, however, of mounting resistance to the global drug control regime and its narrow emphasis on suppressing supply, chiefly through enforcement measures. This report considers how changes under way in Latin America are challenging the foundations of this regime. Over the past decade two independent commissions - the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy and the Global Commission on Drug Policy - have broken the taboo on debating alternative drug policies. Both commissions have emphasised a paradigm shift from repressive approaches to more preventive interventions that focus on harm reduction and citizen security. Emboldened by these commissions' recommendations, Latin American leaders from across the political spectrum are currently discussing a more balanced approach to drug policy. Some governments are experimenting with legislation and regulatory models that are tailored to their countries' local realities and needs. These and other efforts have potentially dramatic implications not just for drug policy in Latin America, but globally. Details: Oslo, Norway: NOREF (Norwegian Peacebuilding Resource Center, 2013. 12p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 1, 2013 at: http://www.peacebuilding.no/var/ezflow_site/storage/original/application/cec0c2d61be4326b2038452c8a98a4f9.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Latin America URL: http://www.peacebuilding.no/var/ezflow_site/storage/original/application/cec0c2d61be4326b2038452c8a98a4f9.pdf Shelf Number: 131577 Keywords: Drug Policy (Latin America)Drug ReformDrug Related ViolenceDrug TraffickingWar on Drugs |
Author: Giacomello, Corina Title: Proposals for alternatives to criminal prosecution and incarceration for drug-related offenses in Latin America Summary: Latin America is immersed in a prison epidemic. The so-called "war on drugs" and harsher criminal penalties underlie the increase in the prison population. "One-size-fits-all" policies and severe sanctions have left the region's countries in a prison crisis that threatens future generations. Instead of proposing a single model, therefore, multiple pathways should be explored. This briefing by the International Drug Policy Consortium focuses on the judicial and prison systems, seeking to offer a variety of experiences that demonstrate how various situations can be addressed: occasional and recreational use, dependent or problem use of substances, small-scale drug dealing by vulnerable members of the trafficking chain (dependent users who sell for survival), and differences among the different levels of leadership in dealing and international trafficking. Details: London: International Drug Policy Consortium, 2014. 16p. Source: Internet Resource: IDPC Briefing Paper: Accessed October 6, 2014 at: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/64663568/library/IDPC-briefing-paper_Alternatives-to-incarceration-in-LA_ENGLISH.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Latin America URL: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/64663568/library/IDPC-briefing-paper_Alternatives-to-incarceration-in-LA_ENGLISH.pdf Shelf Number: 133565 Keywords: Drug OffendersDrug Policy (Latin America)Drug ReformDrug TraffickingWar on Drugs |