• Major victory for President Morales: UN accepts “coca leaf chewing” in Bolivia

    MercoPress (Uruguay)
    Monday, January 14, 2013

    morales-cocaBolivia will again belong to the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs after its bid to rejoin with a reservation that it does not accept the treaty’s requirement that “coca leaf chewing must be banned” was successful Friday. Opponents needed one-third of the 184 signatory countries to object, but fell far, far short despite objections by the US and the International Narcotics Control Board.

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  • Uruguay postpones vote on 'state as dealer' approach to drug regulation - but not for long?

    Few think this postponement means the project is forever shelved
    Christian Science Monitor (US)
    Sunday, December 23, 2012

    Uruguay has been on the vanguard of drug policy reform in the Americas, proposing a state regulatory market for the cultivation and consumption of marijuana. (See Latin America reinventing the War on Drugs). But last week the project’s No. 1 proponent, President Jose Mujica, told Parliament to postpone the vote. Mujica always said he would not go forward with the proposal if a majority of Uruguayans did not accept it. A new poll by the firm Cifra shows 64 percent of those surveyed remain opposed.

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  • Latin America looks to Europe for drug fighting models

    Reuters (UK)
    Saturday, November 17, 2012

    Latin American countries are turning to Europe for lessons on fighting drugs after souring on the prohibition-style approach of the violent and costly U.S.-led war on drugs. Until recently, most Latin American countries had zero-tolerance rules on drugs inspired by the United States. But now countries from Brazil to Guatemala are exploring relaxing penalties for personal use of narcotics, following examples such as Spain and Portugal that have channeled resources to prevention rather than clogging jails.

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  • U.S. marijuana vote may have snowball effect in Latin America

    One expert said that if U.S. states such as Colorado and Washington could permit a system for consumption of marijuana that didn't cause usage to soar, "it could mark a snowball effect on Latin America"
    Tim Johnson (McClatchy Newspapers)
    The Seattle Times (US)
    Wednesday, November 7, 2012

    Voters in Colorado and Washington state who approved the recreational use of marijuana Tuesday sent a salvo from the ballot box that will ricochet around Latin America, a region that's faced decades of bloodshed from the U.S.-led war on drugs. Experts said the moves were likely to give momentum to countries such as Uruguay that are marching toward legalization, to undercut Mexican criminal gangs and to embolden those who demand greater debate about how to combat illegal substances.

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  • Biggest blow to Mexico drug cartels? It could be on your state ballot

    A Mexican study says legalizing marijuana for recreational use in the US - an issue on the ballot in three US states - could cut the proceeds of Mexican drug gangs by 30 percent
    Sara Miller Llana
    Christian Science Monitor (US)
    Monday, November 5, 2012

    Over the past year, the world has eyed Latin America as it has forged forward, in both policy and politics, with a rethink of the “war on drugs.” (See our recent cover story on “Latin America reinventing the war on drugs” here.) But tomorrow, the world will be watching the United States, the birthplace of the “war on drugs,” as three states vote on legalizing the recreational use of marijuana.

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  • Narco-states grope for new strategy

    Emilio Godoy
    InterPress Service (IPS)
    Monday, November 5, 2012

    ips051112Mexico, Colombia and Guatemala face the need to modify their approach to the fight against drug trafficking and are urging the world to do the same. But Mexico and Colombia’s willingness to make the necessary changes is unclear. The three countries are connected by a powerful circuit of trafficking of drugs – whose main market is the United States – weapons and money from illegal activities. But the extent of the problem and the way drug organisations operate in each one of these countries vary.

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  • Latinamerika udfordrer USA i krigen mod narko

    En lang række latinamerikanske regeringer ønsker at legalisere narkotika for at undgå mere vold. USA kæmper imod
    Dagbladet Information (Denmark)
    Tuesday, October 23, 2012

    I mere end 40 år har de latinamerikanske lande med støtte fra USA forsøgt at bekæmpe narkotrafik med militære midler. Men markedet for kokain og andre narkotika er ikke blevet mindre. Derimod er kampen kun blevet hårdere og koster flere menneskeliv, mens rets- og fængselsvæsen i stigende grad overbelastes i de latinamerikanske lande.

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  • Coffeeshop, partita aperta

    Il commento di Tom Blickman (Transnational Institute, Amsterdam) al voto olandese
    Tom Blickman
    La rubrica di Fuoriluogo sul Manifesto
    Mercoledi, 3 ottobre 2012

    tom-blickman3Contrariamente alle aspettative, le elezioni olandesi di settembre non sono state decisive per il futuro dei coffeeshop. I partiti a favore delle restrizioni ai coffeeshop (o addirittura per la loro abolizione) hanno ottenuto 77 seggi su 150, mentre i contrari al cannabis pass e/o a favore della fornitura legale di cannabis ai coffeeshop ne hanno ottenuti 73. E per governare c’è bisogno di una coalizione.

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  • How Latin America is reinventing the war on drugs

    Frustrated with US dictates, countries across the region are floating new ideas to curb drug trafficking, from 'soft' enforcement to legalization
    By Sara Miller Llana, Staff writer, and Sara Shahriari, Correspondent
    The Christian Science Monitor (US)
    Monday, July 30, 2012

    newdrugwarLike thousands of other Bolivians, Marcela Lopez Vasquez's parents migrated to the Chapare region, in the Andean tropics, desperate to make a living after waves of economic and environmental upheaval hit farming and mining communities in the 1970s and '80s.

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  • 'Bolletjesslikker opsluiten zinloos'

    Patrick Meershoek
    Het Parool
    Zaterdag, 16 juni 2012

    bolletjesBolletjesslikkers horen niet in de gevangenis. Het berechten en opsluiten van ongeveer vijftienhonderd kleine drugssmokkelaars per jaar heeft geen noemenswaardig effect op de invoer van cocaïne en vormt een zware belasting voor Openbaar Ministerie, rechtbank en gevangenis.

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