A Colombian Senate Committee has approved a marijuana legalization bill, and sent it to the entire chamber for review.
The bill, which has already been passed through the Senate First Committee and the House of Representatives during the past few months, was cleared by the Senate First Committee on Wednesday. The measure will be debated in the Third of Eight planned Debates before it is sent to the President next year.
The two-year legislative procedure had to be restarted. Rep. Juan Carlos Losada, and Sen. Maria Jose Pizarro introduced the legislation again in July.
Aprobado con 15 votos en 3er debate nuestro proyecto de #CannabisDeUsoAdulto.
Seguimos avanzando en una regulacion que le quite el negocio a las mafias, con enfoque en prevencion, salud publica, proteccion a la ninez y oportunidades economicas para las regiones…. pic.twitter.com/dGvZXvsbXa
— Juan Carlos Losada (@JuanKarloslos) November 22, 2023
According to a translated version, Pizarro stated that the war strategy against drugs had failed during Wednesday’s discussion. It hasn’t been effective, and the consumption hasn’t decreased.”
Losada stated that the lawmakers were pursuing “regulation that focuses on public health, protects minors, and creates economic opportunities.”
He stated that the first step in changing the failed drug policy is to regulate marijuana.
It was approved by both chambers in the last year, as part of a two-year constitutional amendment process. was passed by the Chamber of Deputies in May, and through a Senate Committee. It received a majority on the Senate floor but fell short of the threshold of 54 votes it needed to pass.
In last year at a public hearing before the Senate panel, Justice Minister Nestor suna stated that Colombia was the victim of a “failed war designed 50 years ago, and due to absurd prohibitionism, has brought us blood, armed conflicts, mafias, and crime.”
Last year, the Chamber of Representatives approved the initial legalization bill and the Interior Ministry’s head spoke out in support of the reform proposal.
Since his inauguration last year, President Gustavo Petro — a progressive who has recently announced a new drug policy that focuses on reducing criminal penalties in order to move Colombians into legal sectors of the economic system — has strongly advocated an end to international drug criminalization.
Aprobado en 3er debate nuestro proyecto que busca regularizar el #CannabisDeUsoAdulto.
Nos propusimos con @JuanKarloslos no bajar los brazos y volver a dar el debate en el Congreso y nos emociona que avance. Restan cinco debates, sigue la discusion en plenaria de Senado pic.twitter.com/Xjq8faqEIi
— Maria Jose Pizarro Rodriguez (@PizarroMariaJo) November 22, 2023
The president, after a recent trip to the U.S. recalled the smell of marijuana wafting along the streets of New York City. He commented on the “enormous hysteria” of the legal cannabis sales that are now taking place in he nation that started the global drug battle many decades ago.
Petro took the lead role in the Latin American Caribbean Conference on Drugs, held in September. He noted that Colombia and Mexico were “the biggest victims” of the policy and compared the war on drugs to “a genocide.”
The 19 countries that attended the event issued a joint statement stating that “the results expected have not been achieved when combating the global drug problem. In many cases, the underlying issues remain unresolved and the vulnerabilities of our societies and territories are exploited and exacerbated.”
Petro stated at the conclusion of this conference that he “proposes to have a new and united voice that defends [our] society, our future, and our history. And stop repeating a failure discourse.” He also argued that drug control should not be viewed as “a military problem” but rather a social problem.
Petro said in a separate address that Colombia and the international community had criminalized cannabis and other drugs and victimized families of peasants, as well as Indigenous, Black and Black communities.
“Drug trafficking is not a Colombian crime. “They built it for us,” said he, noting the low costs of producing illicit crops such as marijuana and coca that are then processed and smuggled into wealthier countries to be sold at higher prices.
Petro claimed that these countries had “never developed a policy for prevention, regulation, or mitigation of harm to consumers” and instead preferred to blame less wealthy, whiter countries such as Colombia. He said, “That’s a simple policy,” accusing the U.S.
Petro gave a speech last year at a United Nations (UN) meeting, in which he urged member nations to change fundamentally their drug policies and to abolish prohibition.
He has also spoken about prospects for legalizing marijuana in Colombia, as a way to reduce the influence of illicit markets. He also said that those currently behind bars for cannabis should be released.
Juan Manuel Santos, the former Colombian president, has also criticised the drug war. He is now a reformer. In an op/ed published just before leaving office, he criticised the UN and U.S. president Richard Nixon for setting a standard in drug war that has been ineffective and counterproductive.
He said: “It’s time to talk about responsible government regulations, find ways to cut the air supply of the drug mafias, and address the problem of drug use by increasing resources for prevention, treatment, and harm reduction in terms public health and social fabric.”
Santos, a reform-minded member of the Global Commission on Drug Policy (GCDP), said that “this reflection must have a global scope to be effective.” “It also must be broad and include participation from not only governments, but also academia and civil societies. It must go beyond the law enforcement and judicial authorities to include experts in public health and economists, as well as educators and other disciplines.
Image element provided by Bryan Pocius.
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