- Twelve politicians talk about drugs: their positions on health care (link in spanish)
Intercambios Asociación Civil, 2011
Intercambios Asociación Civil, 2011
Press report
On the context of the elections of 2011, the civil association Intercambios proposed to 26 candidates to submit in writing their position in drug policies on four key issues. Twelve candidates did it. The paper presents a major point of view in favor of decriminalizing possession and self-cultivation.
By Grazia Zuffa
Reformed legislative series on drugs No.15
TNI, on August 2011
Distinguish between possession of drugs for personal consumption or for the supply and trafficking, is generally considered as one of the most difficult and controversial issues with which legislators and persons who are responsible for drugs politics have to face. In order to address this problem, two major solutions are usually applied: the system of threshold or the “flexible” model.
By Genevieve Harris
Reformed legislative series on drugs No.14
TNI / IDPC, on May 2011
The threshold amounts in laws and regulations on drugs are a tool that is being experienced in many jurisdictions. States seem attracted by its apparent simplicity and they use it in order to determine, for example, if: there are evidences of crime possession or supply (Greece); an issue should arise from the criminal justice system (Portugal); or a case should enter a specific sentence level (United Kingdom).
By Martín Barriuso Alonso
Reformed legislative series on drugs No. 9
TNI, on January 2011
In Spain, since the apparition of cannabis social clubs in 2002; thousand of people manage to procure marijuana legally, exercising control over their quality, for their personal consumption. It is time that the debate about drugs politics take distance from the simplification of legalization or prohibition, and consider alternative ways to tackle the drugs phenomenon.
By Graciela Touzé
Reformed legislative series on drugs No.6
TNI, on June 2010
It is time to shape the discourse on a new legislation, and to adapt the intervention practices of public institutions to it, in order to achieve better results and to reduce the harm caused by the problematic consumption of drugs.
- Causas de detención por drogas en Argentina (link in Spanish)
By A. Corda y P. Frisch
Intercambios, 2009
In 20 years of drug law, more than 70 percent of the criminal causes are due to possession for consumption and no for drug trafficking. Seven out of ten prisoners are young people, between 16 and 23 years, with no criminal record, intercepted by the police in the street, without arms, and with less than 5 grams of marijuana or cocaine.
- Fallo Arriola (link in Spanish)
Supreme Court of Nation
August, 25th 2009
Full text of the Judgment of the Supreme Court that declares unconstitutional the articles of the Law 23.737 which criminalize personal consumption which does not affect third party.
- Declaración de Magistrados de la República Argentina ante la reforma de la ley de estupefacientes (link in Spanish)
Judiciary of the Nation
October, 8th and 9th 2008
By Glenn Greenwald
Cato Institute, April 2009
On July 1, 2001, a national law in Portugal decriminalized all drugs, included cocaine and heroin. In the new legal framework, it was “decriminalized” not “legalized” drug possession for personal use. The use of drugs remains prohibited by law, but its violation is an administrative offense exclusively administrative violations and they are completely removed from the criminal sphere.
By Martin Jelsma
TNI, October 2009
This report presents a summary of good practices in legislative reforms of drugs worldwide, which represent a departure from the repressive model of zero tolerance and a step toward more human drug policies based on empirical evidences. The examples reflect the lessons learned in practice with the application of the less punitive approaches and their impact on the levels of drugs consumption and related harm on individual y society.
