MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazilian minister calls for the de-criminalization of marihuana

Carlos Minc praised the recent decision from the Argentine Supreme Court which privileged the right to privacy.

Brazil’s Environment Minister Carlos Minc called on the country’s Supreme Court to imitate Argentina and de-criminalize possession of drugs by adults for personal consumption.

“We beat Argentina 3 to 1 in the World Cup qualifiers but in other issues we are loosing and bad. In Argentina judges decriminalised the use of marihuana”, said Mind during a Sunday visit to the ecologic park Chapada dos Veadeiros in the central state of Goias.

“This is a match we are loosing with the Argentines”, insisted the minister during an open day at the park which included musical shows.

Last August 25th the Argentine Supreme Court declared unconstitutional criminalizing adults in possession of a minimum quantity of marihuana for personal use and with no risk for third parties, thus giving preference to the right to privacy.

The Supreme Court ruling also called on the political establishment to agree on a state policy on drugs to combat the illicit trafficking of narcotics and adopt preventive health and educational measures.

The ruling however did not decriminalize the traffic or trading of drugs and the suppliers involved in the lead case of the five youngsters caught with marihuana, --and later released--, have been jailed.

The message from the Argentine court is quite clear: having drugs in small quantities, with no ostentations or risk for third parties, is a case of individual privacy, a personal issue and therefore not punishable.

Mexico also passed similar legislation last month and there’s a strong move along the Latinamerican continent to change the emphasis on the drugs war. Several former Latinamerican presidents (conservatives and liberals) have spoken openly in favour of a certain degree of consumption legalization and the decisions in Argentina and Mexico point in that direction. Brazil could be the next country to join the club, and Minc’s comments could be interpreted as trial balloons.