Drug Law Reform Project

• See the interactive guide on the status of drug law reform throughout Latin America.

The project was created with the realization that after decades of the same drug policy, the efforts have not curved the expanding drug markets, and instead have led to human rights violations, a crisis in the judicial and penitentiary systems, the consolidation of organized crime, and the marginalization of drug users who are pushed out of reach of the health care systems.

We believe it’s time for an honest discussion on drug policy strategy, aiming at significant changes in both legislation and implementation. The project by the Research Center Drugs and Human Rights (CIDDH, in Lima, Peru), the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) and the Transnational Institute (TNI) seeks to help shape the policy debate at the level of national governments, incorporating human rights and harm reduction perspectives into the drug policy debate and stimulating the debate about appropriate legislative reforms by pointing out good practices and lessons learned in areas such as proportionality of sentences, prison reform, and the status of the coca leaf in the international conventions.

In addition to coordinating a series of informal drug policy dialogues and workshops in the region, our research team will conduct investigations of anti-drug legislation and the prison situation in seven key countries: Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Mexico. Through this work, we aim to see progress in actual drug policy reforms in Latin America and increased public support in the region of the need for such reforms.

Contents

Mexico: The Law Against Small-Scale Drug Dealing
A Doubtful Venture
Jorge Hernández Tinajero y Carlos Zamudio Angles
Series on Legislative Reform of Drug Policies Nr. 3, October 2009
In August 2009, Mexico adopted a new law against small-scale drug dealing, which introduces some significant advances in key subjects, such as the recognising of and distinguishing between user, drug addict and dealer. However it still has significant flaws in continuing to treat demand and supply of drugs as a criminal and market phenomenon that are likely to undermine.

Drug Policy and the Courts: A Brazilian experience
José Henrique Rodrigues Torres
TNI/WOLA Series on Legislative Reform of Drug Policies Nr. 2, August 2009
This report is a personal response from the author on the issue of Drug Policy and The Courts. A year ago, in the author’s professional practice, he felt duty-bound to make a decision that overturned Brazilian case-law and ran contrary to domestic legislation as regards possession of controlled substances.

Pardon for Mules in Ecuador, a Sound Proposal
Pien Metaal
TNI/WOLA Series on Legislative Reform of Drug Policies Nr. 1, February 2009
At the end of 2008, about 1,500 persons were released who were in Ecuadorian prisons sentenced for drug trafficking. The measure, known as "pardon for mules," singled out a specific group of prisoners who were victims of indiscriminate and disproportionate legislation that was in effect for many years. Although with this measure, the Government of Rafael Correa took an important step in the process of reforming draconian legislation regarding controlled substances in his country, it is still to be completed with new legislation.

Legislative Innovation in Drug Policy
Martin Jelsma
Latin American Initiative on Drugs and Democracy, November 2009
This briefing summarizes good practices in legislative reforms around the world, representing steps away from a repressive zero-tolerance model towards a more evidence-based and humane drug policy.

Drug Policy Reform in Practice
Experiences with alternatives in Europe and the US
Tom Blickman & Martin Jelsma
Nueva Sociedad, July 2009
The academic journal Nueva Sociedad recently released an issue to promote the debate in Latin America on drug policy reform. TNI contributed with the article "Drug policy reform in practice: Experiences with alternatives in Europe and the US". The article aims to give inputs for the Latin American debate providing an overview of European drug policy practices regarding harm reduction, decriminalization of consumption and possession, and more tolerant policies towards cannabis, particularly in The Netherlands and several states in the US.

Assessing US Drug Policy in the Americas (PDF)
Time to Revisit Goals and Strategies
Statement of John M. Walsh (WOLA) before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, October 15, 2009
The growing realization that we and our neighbors in the Americas are not well-served by the status quo U.S. policies presents the opportunity to re-examine old premises and modernize our goals and strategies. Better to make real progress in reducing drug-related harms than to persist with policies that have failed to meet their own basic goals even as they have generated immense collateral damage.

In the media

Drug Decriminalization: A Trend Takes Shape
Coletta Youngers and John Walsh
Americas Quarterly, Fall 2009
The trend of "drug decriminalization" is quickly taking shape in Latin America. Increasingly, many countries are leaning toward decriminalization as an alternative approach, hoping that it will be effective both in reducing consumption and dealing with associated health problems.

Latin America breaks ranks in US war on drugs
Christian Science Monitor, 23 September 2009
According to The Netherlands-based Transnational Institute, which culls data on national drug legislation, Uruguay, for decades, has left it to judges to determine whether intention is for personal use (which is legal) or sale (which is not), while as far back as 1998, Paraguay passed a law exempting punishment for those caught with 2 grams or less of cocaine or heroin and 10 grams or less of marijuana for personal consumption.

Mexico decriminalizes small amounts of drugs
Worldfocus, August 27, 2009
Last week, the Mexican government announced that it will no longer jail users of small amounts of marijuana, cocaine and heroin. Other countries in the region have taken similar steps. John Walsh, a senior associate on drug policy for the Washington Office on Latin America, discusses the new law, U.S. concerns and the larger drug war in Mexico.

Argentina’s Supreme Court Rules Sanctions for the Possession of Marijuana Unconstitutional
One More Step Toward a New Paradigm
Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), the Research Center Drugs and Human Rights (CIDDH), and the Transnational Institute (TNI) Press Release, August 26, 2009
The ruling that declares unconstitutional the imposition of criminal sanctions for the possession of small quantities of marijuana for personal use represents an important step toward distinguishing between drug use and drug trafficking. This decision adds to the recent changes emerging throughout the continent (Mexico, Ecuador, Brazil) to improve current drug policies, which have been disproportionately aimed at combating the supply of drugs

Stepping away from the darkness
Martin Jelsma, Newsweek Argentina, August 19, 2009
The Drug War has failed. After more than 20 years of tirelessly pushing for the same policy, the efforts have not been able to bring the expanding illicit drug markets under control and instead have led to an unmanageable crisis in the judicial and penitentiary systems, human rights violations, the consolidation of criminal networks and the marginalization of drug users who are pushed out of reach of health care services. For these reasons, some Latin American countries are starting to explore a more effective and honest drug policy.

The law against small time trafficking (narcomenudeo) represents certain advances but also important risks for drug policy in Mexico
Collective for an Integrated Drug Policy
(CUPIHD), May 1, 2009
The law represents certain advances, since in theory it decriminalizes the possession of illegal drugs and establishes two different legal categories, one for consumers and one for traffickers. Yet we consider it is important to share a brief and immediate analysis of the law, since being that it does not implicate an integral policy with, above all, a public health and human rights perspective, it could have very negative consequences for the country.

Country information