The bill legalizing marijuana in Colombia officially passed through the Chamber of Representatives. It now moves to the Senate to clear its final two hurdles, before it could be sent to the President.
After a narrow procedural vote in late November, lawmakers debated the bill again on Tuesday. They approved it with a vote of 98-57 in the sixth out of eight necessary discussions. It must now be sent to a Senate Committee and passed on the Senate floor to become law.
In an opinion piece last month, Rep. Juan Carlos Losada Vargas, of the Liberal Party, said that Colombia was “ready to move towards a new policy on drugs, which abandons the failed paradigms of prohibition and opens up the field for a more enlightened policy based on public health, prevention of consumption, and guaranteeing citizens’ rights.”
Por ser Acto Legislativo requiere de 8 debates, vamos en el sexto.Nos quedan 2 debates en @SenadoGovCo que deben darse antes del 20 de junio.
Estamos a muy poco de hacer historia.#EsHoraDeRegular el #CannabisDeUsoAdulto#LaMataNoMata pic.twitter.com/ZIHWnXVIE5
— Juan Carlos Losada (@JuanKarloslos) May 9, 2023
He said: “We’re not far from writing a new chapter in the history of the war against drugs. At this point, it’s a question of political will.” “Every vote counts.”
In December, the Senate and Chamber passed identical versions of the legalization bill after passing different versions last year. The Senate approved the version of the bill in December, after the Chamber had initially approved it.
To be adopted, a constitutional amendment must pass through the entire legislative process twice in each chamber, over two calendar years.
It states that the legalization bill will support “the right to free development of personality by allowing citizens the freedom to decide about the consumption of marijuana in a regulated law framework.” It would also reduce “arbitrary discrimination or unequal treatment” in front of consumers.
Inicia la votacion del articulado de nuestro proyecto de #CannabisDeUsoAdulto en 6to debate en Plenaria @CamaraColombia .
Necesitamos 95 votos para aprobarlo para asi seguir avanzando en su regulacion.#EsHoraDeRegular #LaMataQueMata
En vivo https://t.co/XZ40u2vPEZ pic.twitter.com/e0IFJhYnGd
— Juan Carlos Losada (@JuanKarloslos) May 9, 2023
The report also recommends public education campaigns to promote substance abuse treatment.
Nestor Osuna, the Justice Minister, said at last year 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 first version of the Legalization Bill. At the time, the head of the Interior Ministry spoke out in support of the reform proposal. This vote was taken shortly after a committee of the Congress had advanced both this measure and another legalization bill.
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The President of Uruguay, Gustavo Petro, who is a progressive and has advocated for an end to international drug criminalization ever since his inauguration in August, discussed the benefits that cannabis legalization could bring.
The president 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 disband prohibition.
Petro also spoke about prospects for legalizing marijuana in Colombia, as a way to reduce the influence of the illegal market. He also said that the new policy should be followed up by releasing those who are currently behind bars for cannabis.
He talked about the potential economic benefits of a legal marijuana industry. Small towns like Andes and Miranda, for example, could benefit from the legal cultivation of marijuana, perhaps without licensing requirements.
The president has also indicated that he would be interested in exploring exports of cannabis to countries where it is legal.
En #PlenariaCamara ha sido aprobado en sexto debate el “Proyecto de Acto Legislativo por medio del cual se modifica el articulo 49 de la Constitucion Politica de Colombia, se regulariza el Cannabis de uso adulto”, con 98 votos por el SI pic.twitter.com/JCEjxOUZGR
— Camara de Representantes de Colombia (@CamaraColombia) May 9, 2023
Petro met with Mexico’s president last year. The pair announced they would be gathering other Latin American leaders to attend an international conference on “redesigning, rethinking and reevaluating drug policy” in light of the “failure of prohibition”. Mexican legislators are also working towards national legalization.
Petro, who was a member of Colombia’s M-19 group guerrilla, has witnessed the violent conflict that has erupted between guerrillas, narcoparamilitary and drug cartels. This has been made worse by the aggressive drug enforcement policies of the Colombian government.
According to the United Nations Office of Drug Control Policy, Colombia is still a major exporter of cocaine despite “drug-supply reduction activities in Colombia such as eradication of the coca bush and destruction of labs.”
Colombian lawmakers introduced a bill in 2020 that would regulate coca, the plant used to make cocaine. This was an acknowledgement of the failures of the decades-long government campaign against the drug. The legislation passed a committee but was eventually shelved in the conservative-dominated legislature.
Advocates believe that a similar proposal will be able to move forward under the Petro administration. The president is not clear on his stance, but has campaigned for legalizing marijuana. He also promoted cannabis as a safer alternative to cocaine.
Juan Manuel Santos, the former Colombian president, has also been critical and supported reform. In an op/ed that was published just before he left his office, he criticised the United Nations as well as U.S. president Richard Nixon for setting a standard in drug wars which 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 society.” It must go beyond the law enforcement and judicial authority and include experts in public health and economists, among others.
A U.S. Congress delegation recently returned from a trip to Colombia, and Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-OR, who was a part of that trip, told Marijuana Moment, that one of the themes of his discussions with the officials in that country was that “the world has lost the war on drugs.”
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Image element provided by Bryan Pocius.
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