EFE Agency
The Colombian Senate this Tuesday sank a new constitutional reform project to legalize cannabis for recreational use, an initiative that had been presented again after failing last June when it only needed one debate to be approved by Congress.
In a plenary session, 46 senators voted in favor of shelving the initiative and 40 against, so the project – presented by the official senator María José Pizarro and the representative of the liberal Chamber Juan Carlos Losada – was not even debated.
“We will continue fighting for a change in drug policy, convinced that it is the only way to end the war and to truly prevent problematic consumption and the impact on the most vulnerable populations,” said Losada on the social network
Cannabis for medicinal use is allowed in Colombia, but for recreational use, governments of different types have opted, legislature after legislature, for a prohibitionist policy under the eternal promise of putting an end to drugs.
The last blow was dealt by former President Álvaro Uribe, who included this prohibition explicitly in the Constitution and that is why its decriminalization now requires eight debates – instead of the normal four – in Congress.
Furthermore, in Colombia you can carry up to 20 grams of marijuana and the planting of up to 20 self-cultivation plants for personal consumption has been permitted since 1986, but now the speakers – of a progressive nature – wanted to promote the regularization of the market for its sale.
“They say they defend the family, youth and children, but they prefer to leave the business to the jíbaros (sellers) and drug traffickers who have control of the parks, the territories and the State, even against the Constitution. The real people responsible for handing over the youth to the violent mafias are those who voted to archive the project,” said Pizarro.
Rejection amid controversy
The rejection of the project occurs in the midst of a controversy because the Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, repealed a decree that his predecessor, Iván Duque, had signed, which authorized the Police to seize the minimum dose of drugs in public spaces, because he believes that the institution should pursue the big bosses and not the consumers.
“If the Constitution allows personal dosage, Police activity should not focus on persecuting drug users but rather on persecuting major drug lords and prosecuting crimes that affect citizens,” Petro said on Saturday in X .
With what was signed by the Government, the document that had modified another decree that partially regulates the National Police and Coexistence Code “regarding the prohibition of possessing, having, delivering, distributing or marketing prohibited drugs or substances” was overturned.
That rule had been established by the Duque Government in October 2018.
The former president assured that “the repealed decree sought to seize drugs on the streets, not criminalize consumers.”
Harmed by the government
n Losada criticized the Petro Government because the repealed decree “played too great a role” for the constitutional reform project to be shelved today.
“The National Government did not understand that issuing this decree three days earlier could put the regulation of cannabis for adult use in great danger,” added the representative to the Chamber.