Eximir a los consumidores de drogas de ser sometidos a arrestos y procesos judiciales por el consumo de drogas y por actos preparatorios como la adquisición, la simple posesión o el cultivo para consumo personal, no conduce a un mayor consumo de drogas y sí descarga notablemente la presión a la que están sometidos los organismos de aplicación de la ley y los sistemas judicial y penitenciario, además de acabar con las barreras que impiden que los consumidores que muestran patrones problemáticos de consumo se aproximen a servicios de tratamiento y reducción de los daños.

  • What Does It Mean to Decriminalize Marijuana?

    A Cross-National Empirical Examination
    Pacula et.al.
    Center for the Study of Law and Society Faculty Working Papers
    Jurisprudence and Social Policy Program, UC Berkeley
    September 2004

    This paper provides a framework for understanding what decriminalization means within the broader context of depenalization. To illustrate these concepts, it provides a detailed discussion of a range of depenalization policies observed in developed countries, highlighting for each country a distinct issue that influences how the policy is implemented and its potential impact.

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  • The Limited Relevance of Drug Policy

    Cannabis in Amsterdam and in San Francisco
    Craig Reinarman, Peter Cohen, and Hendrien L. Kaal
    American Journal of Public Health, Vol 94, No. 5
    May 2004

    Decriminalizing cannabis doesn't lead to more widespread use, according to a study comparing cannabis users in two similar cities with opposing cannabis policies — Amsterdam, the Netherlands (decriminalization), and San Francisco, California (criminalization). The study compared age at onset, regular and maximum use, frequency and quantity of use over time, intensity and duration of intoxication, career use patterns, and other drug use. No evidence was found to support claims that criminalization reduces use or that decriminalization increases use.

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  • Modificaciones del Código Penal en materia de tráfico de drogas como consecuencia de la Ley Orgánica 15/2003

    José Perals Calleja
    Centro de Estudios Juridicos
    Ministerio de Justicia, Espana
    2004

    La Ley Orgánica 15/2003 de 25 de noviembre ha supuesto la última «gran reforma» del Código Penal español, entrando en vigor el núcleo de la misma el 1 de octubre de 2004. Dicha reforma, que con carácter general se puede calificar de endurecedora en materia de penas, sin embargo en lo relativo al tráfico de drogas puede considerarse como más benigna, sobre todo para aquellos que en la cadena del tráfico ilícito de estupefacientes se encuentran en el último lugar, normalmente drogodependientes que aprovechan el pequeño tráfico para satisfacer su propia adicción.

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  • The role of the quantity in the prosecution of drug offences

    European Legal Database on Drugs (ELDD) Comparative Study
    European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA)
    April 2003

    All countries use legal or judicial means to grade the severity of the offence of drug possession and related actions. Frequently this is done by reference to the quantity of drugs involved in the offence, and some countries choose to indicate certain quantities as the threshold between the levels of offence or punishment. This paper examines whether or not such quantities are defined in the various EU Member States and Norway and, if so, how.

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  • Decriminalization of Drug Use in Portugal

    The Development of a Policy
    Mirjam van het Loo, Ineke van Beusekom, James P. Kahan
    The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 2002; 582; 49
    July 2002

    Drug use is an increasing problem in Portugal. In response, following the advice of a select committee, the Portuguese government has recently issued a number of laws implementing a strong harm-reductionistic orientation. The flagship of these laws is the decriminalization of the use and possession for use of drugs.

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  • Impact Analysis Project of New Drugs Legislation

    Summary Final Report
    Zabransky, T., Mravcik, V., Gajdosikova, H. & Miovskù, M.
    Secretariat of the National Drug Commission
    Office of the Czech Government
    October 2001

    The first major post-communist reform of Czech drug laws was completed as early as 1990. Among other legislative changes that were seen as returns to democratic and humanistic values, capital punishment and punishment for simple possession of illegal drugs were abolished. However, in 1997 a proposal was submitted to the Czech parliament that would re-introduce criminal penalties for drug users for possession of any amount of illegal drugs. The government subsequently submitted its own more modest proposal introducing criminalization of possession, but only for amounts that were "bigger than small", which was approved by parliament in April 1998.

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  • Los consumidores de drogas y la ley en la UE

    Equilibrio entre sanción y tratamiento
    Las drogas en el punto de mira
    Marzo de 2002

    La legislación en la Unión Europea (UE) en materia de drogas pretende encontrar un equilibrio entre la sanción y el tratamiento. Los tres convenios y convenciones de las Naciones Unidas sobre estupefacientes limitan exclusivamente el consumo de drogas a un interés médico o científico. Si bien no consideran delito el consumo ilícito de drogas, la Convención de 1988, como paso adelante para hacer frente al tráfico internacional de drogas, señala que la posesión de drogas para consumo personal debería considerarse un delito.

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  • Decriminalisation in Europe?

    Recent developments in legal approaches to drug use
    European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA)
    European Legal Database on Drugs
    November 2001

    This brief report analyses the similarities and differences in legal attitudes to drug use and possession across Europe in light of the recent changes in 2001.

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  • Drug Use Criminalization v. Decriminalization

    An Analysis in the Light of the Italian Experience
    Luigi M. Solivetti
    Report on mandate of the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health
    January 2001

    The present paper focuses on the pros & cons of the main dichotomy in the field of drug control policy: that between criminalization and decriminalization. In the extensive opening chapter dedicated to the “Premises”, the various points of view about the advisability of having recourse to criminal sanctions are examined.

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  • The Dutch example shows that liberal drug laws can be beneficial

    Craig Reinarman
    Scott Barbour (Ed.), Drug Legalization: Current Controversies. San Diego: Greenhaven Press. pp. 102-108.

    U.S. drug control officials have denounced Dutch drug policy as if it were the devil himself. One former U.S. Drug Czar said "you can't walk down the street in Amsterdam without tripping over junkies." In the Summer of 1998, however, one such denouncement turned into a small scandal. The first part of this chapter examines this incident as a window on the politics of drug policy. The second part offers a more general analysis of why U.S. drug control officials seem to be so threatened by the Dutch example.

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