Argentina to get high, high, high

[Faustian]

Will we see the collapse of civilisation?

 

Will all the heads flock to Argentina?

 

Thought the rulings wording was interesting. Seems to be a trend in South America....I wonder where it will lead?

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8221599.stm

 

Argentina rules on marijuana use

 

 

The court said adults were free to make lifestyle decisions

The supreme court in Argentina has ruled that it is unconstitutional to punish people for using marijuana for personal consumption.

The decision follows a case of five young men who were arrested with a few marijuana cigarettes in their pockets.

But the court said use must not harm others and made it clear it did not advocate a complete decriminalisation.

Correspondents say there is a growing momentum in Latin America towards decriminalising drugs for personal use.

The Argentine court ruled that: "Each adult is free to make lifestyle decisions without the intervention of the state."

Supreme Court President Ricardo Lorenzetti said private behaviour was legal, "as long as it doesn't constitute clear danger".

"The state cannot establish morality," he said.

The initiative has been supported by the government - Congress is expected to introduce amendments to the current drug laws.

But the court said it was not advocating a complete decriminalisation of the drug - a move possibly aimed at deflecting criticism from the Church and conservatives, says the BBC's Candace Piette in Buenos Aires.

The eight-page statement also called for a comprehensive policy against illegal drug trafficking.

 

Health fears

 

The move has been criticised by some campaign groups who say it will encourage damaging behaviour and lead to health problems.

"There will be an increase in the drug trade and the people that fall into addiction will not, unfortunately, access treatment," Claudio Izaguirre, director of the Argentine Anti-drugs Association told Reuters.

"My country doesn't have the necessary health coverage for what will happen," he said.

 

Argentina's move follows rulings by several other countries across the region, including Venezuela, Ecuador and Colombia.

Last week, Mexico enacted a law decriminalising possession of small amounts of drugs, including cocaine and heroin - the country is in the midst of a drugs turf war which has claimed more than 11,000 lives in the last three years.

The aim of such moves is to enable police to focus their efforts on the big criminals in the drugs trade rather than dealing with petty cases, says our correspondent.

 

But it also marks a shift a dramatic regional shift to the decades-old US-backed policy of running repressive military-style wars on the drug trade, she adds.

 

[Bangkoktraveler]

From what I have found out, USA hatred of drugs began in 1875 when San Francisco outlawd opium dens.

 

Opium was not outlawed, just the Chinese opium dens. If you wanted opiate products back then, you just went to the drug store or your regular store and bought your opiates without any problems. Children could buy them. No big deal. The biggest group of opiate users back then was ...... women.

 

So why shut down the opium dens? It was dones so as to try to stop the Chinese from coming to San Francisco.

[allistar]

For the first few years of it's existance, Coke a cola really was the real thing. Maybe cole can re-intoduce cocaine into it's formula to pay for the health tax that is going to be put on it.

[SurinBum]

Quite progressive.

[CTO]

there never was much coke in coke - however my mum remember;'s when "weed" really was a weed.

 

Up here in Nakorn Nowhere smoking weed's is common -

[jai-dee]

One hundred years ago, the US convened the International Opium Conference. This meeting of 13 nations in Shanghai was the beginning of global drug prohibition.

 

Prohibition slowly became one of the most universally applied policies in the world. But a century on, international support for this blanket drug policy is slowly but inexorably unravelling.

 

In January, Barack Obama became the third US president in a row to admit to consumption of cannabis. Bill Clinton had admitted using cannabis but denied ever inhaling it. George Bush was taped saying in private he would never admit in public to having used cannabis. When Obama was asked whether he had inhaled cannabis, he said: ''Of course. That was the whole point.''

 

Obama has candidly discussed his drug use. ''Pot had helped, and booze; maybe a little blow [cocaine] when you could afford it.'' He has also admitted the ''war on drugs is an utter failure'' and called for more focus on a public health approach.

 

In February, a Latin American drug policy commission similarly concluded that the ''drug war is a failure''. It recommended breaking the ''taboo on open debate including about cannabis decriminalisation''. The same month, an American diplomat said the US supported needle-exchange programs to help reduce the transmission of HIV and other blood-borne diseases, and supported using medication to treat those addicted to opiates.

 

In March, the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs met in Vienna as the culmination of a 10-year review of global drug policy. A ''political declaration'' was issued which, at the urging of the US, excluded the phrase ''harm reduction''. This omission caused a split in the fragile international consensus on drug policy and resulted in 26 countries, including Australia, demanding explicit support for harm reduction in a footnote.

 

continued...

[Faustian]

Nice link jai dee.

 

Are we on the verge of commonsense breaking out??????

[jai-dee]

I wish. Won't be holding my breath though.

[Central Scrutinizer]

"The state cannot establish morality," he said.

 

Smartest thing I've heard a court say in decades.

[Bangkoktraveler]

"The state cannot establish morality," he said.

 

Smartest thing I've heard a court say in decades.

 

 

I wish the USA would legalize drugs and then spend their time 'fighting' real crime.