Drug Legalization Could Sweep Through Latin America

Argentina and Mexico are the latest countries to decriminalize personal use of drugs but they probably won’t be the last, the New York Times reported Aug. 27.

The Mexican government recently approved decriminalization legislation, and this week the Supreme Court of Argentina unanimously ruled that arresting youth for minor marijuana possession was unconstitutional. Brazil decriminalized drug use in 2006.

The trend is seen as a rejection of the U.S.-led War on Drugs as well as an effort to ease prison crowding and fight rising drug consumption, organized crime and drug violence. Earlier this year, a trio of former Latin American presidents called the drug war a failure and urged nations in the region to focus on treatment rather than punishing drug users.

“The global consensus on drug policy is cracking, and an increasing number of countries are agreeing that over-reliance on criminal justice as the ’solution’ to the drug problem is not helpful at best, and is often harmful,” said Kasia Malinowska-Sempruch, director of the Open Society Institute’s Global Drug Policy Program.