Ricardo Soberón, president of the Peruvian National Commission for Development and Life without Drugs (Devida); Milton Romaní, Uruguay’s international organizations ambassador regarding the global drug problem; and Stella Maris Martínez, Head Public Defender of the Nation , spoke about this new publication. Graciela Touzé and Paula Goltzman, the compilers of the work, as well as researchers from Intercambios and professors at the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Buenos Aires, also took part in the presentation. Adriana Clemente, Associate Dean of the Faculty who edited the work with Intercambios, also spoke. Among those present were the Secretary General of the National Drug Council of Uruguay, Julio Calzada, and the ambassador of Peru in Argentina, Nicolás Lynch.
(Buenos Aires, November 3, 2011) In a speech made last night at the Cultural Cooperation Center in Buenos Aires, the book ¨Latin America Drug Debate¨ was presented. The book includes motions and proposals from the First and Second Latin American Conferences on Drug Policy, held in Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro in 2009 and 2010, respectively.
In the first part of the presentation, Gabriela Touzé, president of Intercambios Civil Association and one of the books compilers, discussed the joint efforts of the organization and the Faculty of Social Sciences of UBA to edit this work and referred to the “great number and variety of productions, summarized in the title.”
Later, the Head Public Defender of Argentina, Stella Maris Martínez said that a book like this is necessary because, “although much has been said, the techniques used [in the War on Drugs] are still inadequate, causing much more pain than solutions.¨
As an example, the official cited the issue of compulsory hospitalization, and the judges, having passed a Mental Health Act, are still the following endorsing the argument that the rule is not regulated. “For me it is nonsense, because if there is a law that establishes rights, it should be applied,” said Martinez, adding: “This is a book that we read when we want to give up, when we receive the 1000 design approaches to user rights. It is a very valuable tool in the fight, and additionally a very pleasant reading. “
Adriana Clemente, Associate Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Buenos Aires, considered the book “challenging in three categories, basically: institutions, legislation, and tests of knowledge. In the latter there have not been many changes, although much was investigated and even more is known. There is progress in the legislative field, but decriminalization alone does not prevent further criminalization of users. As for institutions, there is an important debt,
but the policies which are being carried out, as well as investments in public spending, give us a more encouraging prospect. “
Later, Ricardo Soberón, President of the Peruvian National Commission for Development and Life without Drugs (Devida), especially defended Mónica Cuñaro’s presentation on Legislative Harmonization in Latin America after alluding to the enormous difference between academic labor and public functions that are being exercised currently. “Durante many years, the region was only a legislative receptor. The norms that the United States imposed were adapted. But voices started emerging: in some cases a magistrate, in others a legislative authority, and in some countries a parliamentarian. And now Latin America has its own initiatives,” he expressed.
The Uruguayan international organizations ambassador regarding the global drug problem, Milton Romaní, stated: “In my six years in front of the National Drugs Board of my country, no one knows the strength that it gave me to hear other voices each time I attended the [national and Latin American] conferences [organized by Intercambios].” Regarding the issue itself, he warned that “we have to confront it while the damages that drugs generate and the costs that policies create when they are applied, not only from their managers, but also from police and health institutions.”
Lastly, Paula Goltzman, head of the Research and Training Area of Intercambios and compiler of the book along with Graciela Touzè affirmed: “A conference does not create the solution to things that inconvenience us, such as the policies that center themselves on punishing users and the tendency to believe that they, and not the devices that we maintain to attack them, are at fault, but it does allow us to get together, debate, and generate consensuses.” Finally, she called to use the book: “On the contrary, it is only a condensation of words.”
Intercambios Civil Association is a key organization in Latin America on issues of harm reduction and drug policy. It develops policy advocacy, research and training. It organized the First and Second Latin American Conference (Buenos Aires 2009, Rio de Janeiro 2010) and coordinated the discussion of civil society in the region on the goals set by the Special Session of the UN General Assembly on Drugs (UNGASS). Among their publications are: “Contributions to a new drug policy. V and VI National Conference on Drug Policy “(2010) and” Knowledge and practices about drugs. The case of the cocaine base “(2007).
Press Contacts:
Intercambios Civil Association +54 11 4954 7272
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