Summit of the Americas mum on drug policy

|
Jose Miguel Gomez/Reuters
Flags of the countries of the Americas are seen at the entrance of the Centro de Convenciones in Cartagena on April 10. The Caribbean port city will host the VI Summit of the Americas from April 14 to 15.

• A version of this post ran on the author's site, Insightcrime.com. The views expressed are the author's own.

In an April 7 editorial, Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina said he was for moving beyond the rhetoric around drug prohibition and legalization.

"Our proposal, as the Guatemalan government, is to abandon any ideological position (whether prohibition or liberalization) and to foster a global intergovernmental dialogue based on a realistic approach -- drug regulation," the former army general wrote in the Guardian newspaper's weekend edition, the Observer.

"Drug consumption, production and trafficking should be subject to global regulations, which means that consumption and production should be legalized but within certain limits and conditions," he added. "And legalization therefore does not mean liberalization without controls."

Perez hopes that dialogue about this issue will begin at the Sixth Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia, April 14 - 15, where 34 heads of state, including US President Barack Obama, are scheduled to meet to discuss everything but drug policy.

Drug policy will, then, be the "gorilla in the room" during the summit, as the topic is on everyone's minds but not officially on the agenda. As such, this week InSight Crime brings you "The Gorilla in the Room," a series of articles and graphics on drug policy questions in the lead up to the summit.

To start, we give you an interactive graphic (below and here) prepared by InSight Crime reporter Edward Fox that maps every country's publicly stated position on legalization and decriminalization with background information and links. It is also downloadable here (pdf) as a chart.

Later articles will include an in-depth analysis on Guatemala's position, recommendations for summit participants to move the debate forward and an assessment of academia's positions on the issue.

The red countries in the map represent those who have publicly stated they are against both legalization and decriminalization of narcotics.

The yellow countries are those which either have partial decriminalization laws or have argued in favor of this, but have said they are against legalization.

The green countries are those who are open to debate on drug decriminalization and legalization.

– Steven Dudley is a director at Insight – Organized Crime in the Americas, which provides research, analysis, and investigation of the criminal world throughout the region. Find all of his research here. Additional reporting provided by Andres Ortiz Sedano.

You've read 3 of 3 free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
QR Code to Summit of the Americas mum on drug policy
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/Latin-America-Monitor/2012/0411/Summit-of-the-Americas-mum-on-drug-policy
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe
CSM logo

Why is Christian Science in our name?

Our name is about honesty. The Monitor is owned by The Christian Science Church, and we’ve always been transparent about that.

The Church publishes the Monitor because it sees good journalism as vital to progress in the world. Since 1908, we’ve aimed “to injure no man, but to bless all mankind,” as our founder, Mary Baker Eddy, put it.

Here, you’ll find award-winning journalism not driven by commercial influences – a news organization that takes seriously its mission to uplift the world by seeking solutions and finding reasons for credible hope.

Explore values journalism About us