The Senate approved a bill Tuesday to legalize marijuana, taking Colombia one step closer to the end of prohibition. Advocates are concerned, however, that unrelated government controversies may derail this year’s effort as deadlines to act quickly approach.
The Senate First Committee, after advancing through several votes and passing the entire Chamber of Representatives in the last month took up the proposal of Rep. Juan Carlos Losada Vargas. It passed the proposal with a vote of 15-4.
#ULTIMAHORA @PrimeraSenado aprueba en penultimo debate nuestro proyecto de #CannabisDeUsoAdulto
Hoy nuevamente el Congreso reafirma que #EsHoraDeRegular para avanzar en una nueva politica de drogas, alejada del prohibicionismo y enmarcada en un modelo de regulacion. pic.twitter.com/c70MwxFoa9
— Juan Carlos Losada (@JuanKarloslos) June 6, 2023
The proposed constitutional amendment will now be sent to the President for his approval. The final and next step will be a Senate Floor vote on 16th June. The final step is a Senate floor vote, which will be held on June 16.
Maria Jose Pizarro (Sen.), who champions the legislation in Senate, wrote last month in an opinion piece that criminalizing cannabis “has enriched criminal groups that continue to grow and sow terror throughout the world.”
“In parallel, an important percentage of the growth in the number of people deprived of their liberty around the world corresponds to those arrested or prosecuted on charges of possession and consumption. This has led to a prison overcrowding crisis,” stated.
Cinco decadas despues de declararle la “guerra a las drogas” ?cuales son realmente los resultados?
1. A nivel global se ha invertido una fortuna de dineros publicos, solo en Colombia se han perdido casi 80 billones de pesos en una guerra fallida.
— Maria Jose Pizarro Rodriguez (@PizarroMariaJo) May 30, 2023
To be adopted, a constitutional amendment must pass through the entire legislative process twice in each chamber, over two separate calendar years.
The bodies made the bills identical in December after the Chamber and Senate passed different versions. Senate approved the version of the bill in December, after the Chamber had initially approved it.
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.
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.
The President of Uruguay, Gustavo Petro, who is a progressive and has been advocating a global end to drug crime since his inauguration in August, discussed the benefits that cannabis legalization could bring.
ATENCION
Los miembros de la @primerasenado APROBARON en Primer Debate el PAL 33/22 Senado – 02/22 Camara (Regulacion del Cannabis de uso adulto).#SesionOrdinariaPresencial
— Comision Primera Senado (@PrimeraSenado) June 6, 2023
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.
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 reformulating 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 approach taken by the Colombian government.
According to the United Nations Office of Drug Control Policy, Colombia is still a major exporter of coca despite “drug reduction activities in Colombia such as eradication of Coca Bush and destruction of labs.”
Colombian lawmakers introduced a bill in 2020 that would regulate coca, a 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.
They are hopeful that such a plan could be implemented under the Petro government. 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 published just before leaving office, he criticised the United Nations 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 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 part the group, told Marijuana Moment, that he discussed with officials there that the “war on drugs” has been lost.
Image element provided by Bryan Pocius.
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