Colombia Supreme Court decriminalizes drugs for personal use

Colombia Supreme Court decriminalizes drugs for personal use
Thursday, 25 August 2011 11:08
Travis Mannon

Colombia's Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that carrying small doses of drugs is not a punishable offense, torpedoing years of effort by the administration of former President Alvaro Uribe to criminalize the personal possession and consumption of drugs.

According to the court, penalizing the personal use of drugs violates the "free development of personality."

The court found that Legislative Act No.2, 2009, which banned the personal use of drugs, "implies the nullification of fundamental rights, and it represses and sanctions with the severest punishments (imprisonment) the personal decision to abandon one's personal health, a choice that corresponds to their own decision and does not infringe on the rights of other members of society."

According to newspaper El Tiempo, the Supreme Court set the "personal amount" of drugs at 20 grams of marijuana and one gram of cocaine.

More:
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/18557-colombian-supreme-court-decriminalizes-drugs-for-personal-use.html

Heads exploding everywhere.

Latin America won't ever be free until it collectively tells the US to take the war on drugs and stick it where the sun don't shine. Thanks for posting.

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See below for more details:

"In 1994, the Colombian Constitutional Court declared unconstitutional the punishment for possession of amounts for personal use. Since then, adults can possess up to 20 grams of marijuana and one gram of cocaine, among other substances, for consumption in the privacy of their homes without fear of any penal sanctions.

In July 2009, the Supreme Court overruled an October 2008 sentence imposed to a man arrested for possession of 1.3 grams of cocaine. The man had been sentenced to 64 months in prison and needed to pay a fine. The Court ordered his immediate release, an indication that the 1-gram threshold is not the only criteria to be considered.

As the exception to the rule, and counter to the trend in Latin America, President Alvaro Uribe had been trying for several years to re-penalize possession for personal use in Colombia. On December 10, 2009, Congress amended the Constitution to prohibit drug use and possession. Only administrative sanctions will be applicable."

http://www.druglawreform.info/en/country-information/colombia

Still, I'm always glad to see Uribe getting another kick in the nuts.