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Militias in Rio de Janeiro
Tom BlickmanFriday, November 5, 2010
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Last month the film Tropa de Elite 2 (Elite Squad 2) was released in Brazil. It is a sequel to the very successful 2007 film Elite Squad, a semi-fictional account of the BOPE – special heavily armed police units that invade the slums in Rio de Janeiro going after the drug trafficking gangs. In the new sequel the BOPE have a new enemy: paramilitary groups known as 'milícias' in stead of the usual suspects, the drug gangs of Rio. -
California's Proposition 19 Falls Short, but Moves the Marijuana Policy Debate Forward
Prop 19 marks the end of a chapter, but not the end of the story for marijuana policy reform
John WalshWednesday, November 3, 2010
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The California ballot initiative that would have legalized marijuana under state law was defeated at the polls Tuesday, garnering about 46 percent of the vote. Over the course of the campaign, the measure achieved notoriety in Latin America , and provoked anxiety on the part of the Colombian and Mexican governments in particular. WOLA has long promoted more effective and humane drug policies in the Americas, and in recent years we have seen the debate begin to open, not least in response to Prop 19. So what does Prop 19's defeat foretell for the debate over alternatives to marijuana prohibition? -
Proposition 19 Is a Vote Heard 'Round the World'
Coletta YoungersMonday, November 1, 2010
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The world will be watching as Californians go to the polls on Tuesday and vote on Proposition 19, which would legalize and regulate marijuana in that state. Regardless of the outcome of the vote, however, it has already sparked an intense international debate, particularly in Latin America where the U.S. has long waged its “war on drugs.” Drug war critics and even some who have supported the U.S. approach to date are asking how the U.S. government can continue to call on Latin American governments to implement harsh drug control policies when at least some of those policies are being called into question in the United States itself. -
What the World Can Learn from Switzerland’s Drug Policy Shift
HCLU's film outlines Switzerland's successful drug policy
Peter SarosiMonday, October 25, 2010
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This short film by the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU), a grantee of the Open Society Global Drug Policy Program, outlines how the country successfully resolved these problems through the introduction of an innovative national drug policy based on scientifically proven methods, not rhetoric. -
Marijuana and Democracy – All Eyes on California
John WalshFriday, October 22, 2010
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“Democracy is the worst form of government,” as Churchill once put it, “except all those other forms that have been tried.” Whatever else it should include, it’s hard to imagine democracy without regular, free and fair elections that express the majority’s preferences. -
Todos Somos Juarez?
Maureen MeyerTuesday, October 19, 2010
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On October 12, 2010, Mexican president Felipe Calderon traveled to Ciudad Juarez to attend a meeting evaluating the “Todos Somos Juarez” program which was announced seven months ago as a way to “rebuild” the violence-plagued city. Far from receiving praise during his visit, where Calderon inaugurated a mental health hospital and a public park as part of “Todos Somos Juarez,” the president was confronted with widespread protests from journalists and citizens. As one student commented, “Calderon is coming to open a psychiatric center when he is the creator of our psychosis. How does he dare to show his face?” -
The drug legalization debate
Rodrigo UprimnySunday, October 17, 2010
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Foreign minister Maria Angela Holguín’s statement of last Sunday 10 October is of great importance. According to this statement, Colombia should take the discussion about the drugs policy to a global level and to the UN’s Security Council. According to her criteria it doesn’t make sense that whilst certain developed countries decriminalize and legalize certain use, we continue to “imprison peasants who own half a hectare of coca leaf cultivation”. -
Prison Inc.? An Illusionary Response
Ricardo SoberónTuesday, October 5, 2010
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In the last few years, many Latin American countries face a dilemma – imported from Western countries – of conceding some if not all of its penitentiary services to large national and/or international companies. Such a step calls into question whether or not the State should hand over legal authority, including the duty of sanctioning, guarding and rehabilitating the offenders. -
The Real Meaning of Thousands Arrested on Drug Charges
Sandra EdwardsMonday, October 4, 2010
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On September 29, 2010 the Associated Press (AP) published an article entitled Ecuador: Almost 3,000 Detained for Narco-Trafficking in Eight Months. The article, which states how many were arrested for possession and how many for international trafficking, insinuates that such large numbers of people detained on drug charges indicates that Ecuador is playing a key role in decreasing the amount of illicit drugs that are trafficked in the Andean region. However, the key questions to ask after reading the article are: who are these 3000 people and has their detention led to an actual decrease in the movement of drugs through Ecuador? -
Bolivia in urgent need of a drug law reform
Pien MetaalThursday, September 30, 2010
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Almost 75 percent of the prison population in Bolivia remains in jails without a sentence. One third of the inmates are incarcerated due to the draconian character of Bolivian drug law, Law 1008 (Ley 1008). Although Evo Morales’ government announced that it would modify the law, the modifications have been centered around the regulation of coca cultivations, not on the tremendous repercussions of the law on the prison situation and the criminal justice system.
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