The presidents of Colombia and Mexico introduced that they will be bringing alongside one another other Latin American leaders for an worldwide conference concentrated on on “redesigning and rethinking drug policy” given the “failure” of prohibition.

As lawmakers in both of those nations function to progress cannabis legalization, Colombian President Gustavo Petro and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador explained in a joint statement on Friday that they lately satisfied to talk about “geopolitical, professional, cultural and enhancement cooperation” in their bilateral connection.

Portion of that hard work will entail collaborating with the broader global community to forge a new path on the drug coverage front—a subject matter that Petro has usually mentioned since having business before this year.

“Recognizing the failure of the combat towards medicines and the vulnerability of our peoples in the deal with of this issue, Mexico and Colombia will convene an Intercontinental Meeting of Latin American leaders with the aim of redesigning and rethinking drug coverage,” the counties introduced in a joint assertion next Petro’s go to to Mexico last 7 days, according to a translation.

It is just one of additional than a dozen priorities for the “bilateral agenda” outlined by the presidents.

While the assertion is light on particulars, the reference to the “failure” of the drug war—as very well as each presidents’ past reviews on the need for reform—signals that the global discussions will largely middle on moving absent from a criminalization product for medicine.

 

Petro stated that the intercontinental cooperation on a way ahead from the war on prescription drugs is critical, “given the levels of violence that the latest coverage has unleashed, in particular in the American continent.”

“We are killing just about every other,” the Colombian president mentioned in a assertion ahead of his conferences with López Obrador. “And it is the product or service of prohibition.”

Petro has been specially outspoken about the difficulty given that profitable the presidency. For instance, he delivered a speech at a meeting of the United Nations (UN) in September, urging member nations to fundamentally transform their strategies to drug policy and disband with prohibition.

He also just lately talked about the potential customers of legalizing marijuana in Colombia as 1 usually means of cutting down the affect of the illicit marketplace. And he signaled that the plan adjust must be adopted by releasing people who are presently in jail about hashish.

To that finish, Colombian senators approved a cannabis legalization monthly bill in committee previous 7 days, following its improvement in the country’s Chamber of Associates.

Prior to the Senate motion, Colombian Justice Minister Néstor Osuna stated at a community hearing that the country has been the sufferer of “a unsuccessful war that was intended 50 years in the past and, thanks to absurd prohibitionism, has brought us a good deal of blood, armed conflict, mafias and crime.”

In the meantime, a U.S. congressional delegation returned from a pay a visit to to Colombia past thirty day period, and a congressman who was element of the vacation explained to Cannabis Instant that 1 topic of his discussions with officials in the region was that the entire world has “lost the war on drugs.”

In Mexico, a top Senate official not too long ago explained that she’s heard from a colleague who frequented leaders in numerous Latin American nations, and they’re continuously inquiring about the standing of Mexico’s attempts to legislatively finish prohibition and established up a regulated marijuana industry.

Separately, Mexican Sen. Patricia Mercado noted the new joint drug reform determination created by her country’s president and the president of Colombia, declaring that coverage can be reworked, like by legalizing hashish, “if there is political will.”

The country’s Supreme Courtroom dominated in 2018 that the prohibition on cannabis possession and cultivation for personal use is unconstitutional.

Senate Vast majority Chief Ricardo Monreal, an advocate for reform, stated in August that enacting restrictions for hashish will (yet again) be amid the top rated legislative priorities of Congress in the new session.

It is been about 4 many years since the nation’s best courtroom considered prohibition unconstitutional, leaving it up to Congress to observe up with a coverage modify, accordingly. But lawmakers have so much been unable to reach a consensus on laws to put in spot laws for a cannabis software.

At the ask for of legislators, the court docket agreed to extend its deadline for Congress to formally conclusion prohibition on a number of instances. But since of the recurring failed makes an attempt to meet up with those people deadlines< , justices  ultimately voted to end criminalization on their own last year.

Mexico’s president said in late 2020 that a vote on legalization legislation was delayed due to minor “mistakes” in the proposal.

While the new joint statement from both country leaders talked about convening a conference for Latin American nations, it’s likely that the conversation will also take into account developments in the U.S., where President Joe Biden recently issued a mass marijuana pardon and directed a scheduling review.

U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) cheered the official swearing in of Petro in August, saying that he looks forward to “working together to…rethink drug policy, and much more.”

A top Mexican senator separately said last year that “there is no longer room for the prohibitionist policy. ” And she also said that the influence of the U.S .is to blame for failed marijuana criminalization laws  in her country.

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Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer.

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