Colombia's New Drug Legislation

In Colombia, a new legislation act was passed in December 2009 which forbids the possession and consumption of drugs and allows for arrest of drug users for the purpose of subjecting them to compulsory drug treatment.

The Colombian Constitutional Court had five times rejected previous proposals from the current government to criminalize the possession of personal doses of drugs. The right of ‘free development of the personality’ was looked to be protected by the Court when rejecting these proposals.

The government used the case of the a 22 year old named Fabian who had been consuming drugs for 10 years and had attempted suicide several times. Fabian’s mother brought legal action against the State to provide treatment within the health system for his drug addiction. The legal claim was successful, however, Fabian as an adult needed to consent to this treatment. Fabian’s mother then asked whether someone could oblige Fabian to take this treatment.

Arguments in favour of the law were expressed by the government in three points: first, that it is a duty of the State to protect the life and the integrity of the people and if a person acts in detriment of their own heath it is the State duty to protect them, even against their will.

Second, it is in the view of the government that those initiated in drug consumption are very likely to break the law in the future. In figures presented from 2009, of 1.634 minor offenders, 49.1% committed crime under the effects of a psychoactive drug and 26.8% committed crime in order to fund purchases of more drugs.

Third, for the current president Alvaro Uribe Velez, (a center-right politician who has pushed for an all out war against drug trafficking and who has even allowed for the presence of US military in Colombian territory to help fight the drug war), it makes no sense to lose so many lives and spend so many resources on attacking production and at the same time be permissive with consumption.

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A survey asking Colombians who they hated more between the guerrillas, the paramilitary, rapists or drug addicts brought drug addicts to the top of the pole.

Edited and translated from two articles from ‘El Espectador’ Colombian Newspaper.

 
1. El Espectador (2010) De 1.634 menores consumidores detenidos, 27% delinquió para comprar droga [www]

http://www.elespectador.com/noticias/politica/articulo187142-de-1634-men... (Accessed 06/04/2010)

 
2. (2009)Gobierno promulgó reforma que sanciona dosis personal de drogas [www]

http://www.elespectador.com/articulo178719-gobierno-promulgo-reforma-san... (Accessed 06/04/2010)