Drug Decriminalization does not guarantee optimal results

Alexis Mera

The recent and controversial stance on the fight against drugs is one of the issues to be discussed with Mexico and 33 other countries in the region, during the summit of the Organization of American States (OAS), which began yesterday and will end tomorrow in Guatemala.

This subject emerges in the debate following the publication of the report called “The drug problem in the Americas,” published in May 2013. In this paper, the OAS recommended decriminalizing drug use on the continent.

In Ecuador this debate has not gone unnoticed, since last Monday, Interior Minister, José Serrano, made clear the country’s position on the legalization of narcotics. “The global fight against drugs has failed. We need to establish clear policies on addictions and then move to a process of decriminalization of drugs,” said Serrano.

This stance arose after the presidential legal secretary, Alexis Mera, raised the possibility of allowing indigenous communities; produce marijuana “in order that there are no prices so that there are no terrible mafias like the ones that are here now.”

In America there are five countries that have decriminalized the personal consumption of marijuana: Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Chile and two U.S. states (Colorado and Washington). However it is considered as crimes in these countries self-cultivation, trafficking and illegal sales.