In a ruling that many Americans believe the US Supreme Court should of made yrs ago, the Argentine Supreme Court ruled that prison for personal drug use is Unconstitutional.
No Prison for Pot Use, Argentina Says
The seven judges said they were unanimous in "declaring the unconstitutionality of prison for private consumption."
"Each individual adult is responsible for making decisions freely about their desired lifestyle without state interference," their ruling said. "Private conduct is allowed unless it constitutes a real danger or causes damage to property or the rights of others."
The ruling sounds as if it could of been written by our Forefathers.
Juan Carlos Hidalgo over at the CATO Institute points us to the Argentine Constitution. Article 19 of their Constitution should be in our own Constitution imho. Article 19 reads as follows,
The private actions of men which in no way offend public order or morality, nor injure a third party, are only reserved to God and are exempted from the authority of judges. No inhabitant of the Nation shall be obliged to perform what the law does not demand nor deprived of what it does not prohibit.
Juans piece is very short so rather than risk too much copying.. Argentina Decriminalizes Personal Drug Consumption.
All the articles are quick to point out that any Dealers are still going to be chased, caught and prosecuted as criminals. We are beginning to see this trend across the world. Portugal legalized much of the drug use in their country years ago as Glen Greenwald pointed out in his White Paper on what a success it has been.
The most in depth article on what is happening in Brazil and Ecuador I found at Buenos Aires Herald in a article, Region ‘must decriminalize personal drug consumption’
The tough approach adopted by Latin America and the US over the past two decades to combat drug trafficking and consumption has failed miserably and a new, more humanitarian view focused on decriminalizing possession for personal consumption and helping addicts while concentrating efforts in fighting large traffickers must be adopted.
One last point made that proves History and US Policy is never really forgotten can be found in the CBS article.
Cabinet chief Anibal Fernandez declared that the ruling brings an end to "the repressive politics invented by the Nixon administration" in the United States, and later adopted by Argentina's dictators, to imprison drug users as if they were major traffickers.