HomeNewsBriefLatAm Presidents Call for Drug Reform Ahead of UN Special Session
BRIEF

LatAm Presidents Call for Drug Reform Ahead of UN Special Session

BRAZIL / 16 MAR 2016 BY DAVID GAGNE EN

Former presidents of Colombia, Mexico, and Brazil have written an open letter denouncing the war on drugs and calling for substantive policy reforms ahead of next month's momentous meeting of the UN General Assembly to assess the global drug problem. 

The letter was signed by former Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso (1995-2003), former Colombian President César Gaviria (1990-1994), and former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo (1994-2000). It was published as an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times on March 11. 

The former presidents called the war on drugs an "unmitigated disaster," and blamed "outdated drug policies" for "soaring drug-related violence, overstretched criminal justice systems, runaway corruption and mangled democratic institutions."

The trio also warned that the world is in danger of missing an opportunity to change this approach when the United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) convenes in April to discuss the global drug problem.

The presidents say the preliminary negotiations currently being held among 53 member states have been "neither transparent nor inclusive." They also accuse the member states of drafting a declaration that "does not acknowledge the comprehensive failure of the current drug control system" and "perpetuates the criminalization of producers and consumers."

InSight Crime Analysis

Leaders from Latin America, which has long suffered the brunt of the violence stemming from the global war on drugs, have been at the forefront of calls for alternatives to punitive global drug policies and the upcoming UN special session to debate drug policy was first proposed by several Latin American nations in 2012.

Since then, a host of countries such as Colombia and Jamaica, as well as several US states, have moved to liberalize restrictive marijuana laws. Uruguay became a global pioneer for drug policy reform in 2013 when it took the unprecedented step of legalizing the production, sale, and use of marijuana. Various countries have taken further measures to tilt the balance of policy targeting drug users towards health and away from punishment, while calls for a less combative approach to drug production are also emerging. Just last week the governor of Guerrero, the southwest Mexican state that has been wracked by violence related to the heroin trade, suggested introducing a pilot program that would regulate the cultivation of opium poppy for medicinal purposes.

SEE ALSO: Coverage of Drug Policy

Despite a growing consensus in Latin America that the war on drugs has failed and an apparent softening of the United States' hardline stance, the former Latin American presidents are not alone in their skepticism that UNGASS will bring substantive changes to the international drug control regime. On March 14, nearly 200 civil society organizations from around the world expressed similar concerns (pdf) about the "non-inclusive and non-transparent nature of the preparatory process."

Political challenges present another obstacle to global drug policy reform. There is no universal agreement surrounding counter-narcotics policy, and major countries like China and Russia remaining strongly committed to the punitive model. 

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

JALISCO CARTEL / 3 MAY 2023

New sanctions in a Puerto Vallarta timeshare fraud scam show how the CJNG exploits unsuspecting tourists as an alternate source…

ELITES AND CRIME / 10 OCT 2022

Presidential assassination plots and the Jalisco Cartel's influence on government -- the juicy details of Mexico's SEDENA leaks.

BRAZIL / 4 APR 2023

In Leticia, a tri-border between Colombia, Brazil, and Peru, Brazilian gangs are pushing up violence as the battle for control.

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Contributes Expertise Across the Board 

22 SEP 2023

This week InSight Crime investigators Sara García and María Fernanda Ramírez led a discussion of the challenges posed by Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s “Total Peace” plan within urban contexts. The…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in New Colombia Drug Policy Plan

15 SEP 2023

InSight Crime’s work on emerging coca cultivation in Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela was cited in the Colombian government’s…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Discusses Honduran Women's Prison Investigation

8 SEP 2023

Investigators Victoria Dittmar and María Fernanda Ramírez discussed InSight Crime’s recent investigation of a massacre in Honduras’ only women’s prison in a Twitter Spaces event on…

THE ORGANIZATION

Human Trafficking Investigation Published in Leading Mexican Newspaper

1 SEP 2023

Leading Mexican media outlet El Universal featured our most recent investigation, “The Geography of Human Trafficking on the US-Mexico Border,” on the front page of its August 30…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Coverage of Ecuador Leads International Debate

25 AUG 2023

This week, Jeremy McDermott, co-director of InSight Crime, was interviewed by La Sexta, a Spanish television channel, about the situation of extreme violence and insecurity in Ecuador…