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A bill to legalize marijuana in Colombia was approved in its second-to-last vote in the Senate on Tuesday, bringing the country one step closer to ending prohibition. However, advocates are increasingly concerned that unrelated governmental controversies could derail the effort this year as deadlines for action quickly approach.<\/p>\n
After advancing through a series of votes and clearing the full Chamber of Representatives<\/a> last month, the Senate First Committee took up the proposal from Rep. Juan Carlos Losada Vargas and passed it in a 15-4 vote.<\/p>\n #ULTIMAHORA<\/a> @PrimeraSenado<\/a> aprueba en pen\u00faltimo debate nuestro proyecto de #CannabisDeUsoAdulto<\/a> Hoy nuevamente el Congreso reafirma que #EsHoraDeRegular<\/a> para avanzar en una nueva pol\u00edtica de drogas, alejada del prohibicionismo y enmarcada en un modelo de regulaci\u00f3n. pic.twitter.com\/c70MwxFoa9<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Juan Carlos Losada (@JuanKarloslos) June 6, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n This marks the seventh of eight votes before the proposed constitutional amendment is sent to the president. Its next and final step is a Senate floor vote, which is expected to happen on June 16. If the bill is amended, however, that would leave lawmakers with less than a week for bicameral reconciliation before the session ends.<\/p>\n Sen. Mar\u00eda Jos\u00e9 Pizarro, who is championing the legislation in the Senate, wrote in an op-ed last month that cannabis criminalization \u201chas enriched criminal organizations that continue to expand and sow terror around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIn parallel, a significant percentage of the increase in the population deprived of liberty worldwide corresponds to people arrested or prosecuted for possession and consumption, which has led to overcrowding and a prison crisis,\u201d she said<\/a>.<\/p>\n Cinco d\u00e9cadas despu\u00e9s de declararle la \u201cguerra a las drogas\u201d \u00bfcu\u00e1les son realmente los resultados?<\/p>\n 1. A nivel global se ha invertido una fortuna de dineros p\u00fablicos, solo en Colombia se han perdido casi 80 billones de pesos en una guerra fallida.<\/p>\n \u2014 Mar\u00eda Jos\u00e9 Pizarro Rodr\u00edguez (@PizarroMariaJo) May 30, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n As a proposed constitutional amendment, the proposal must go through the full legislative process in each chamber twice, in separate calendar years, in order to be enacted.<\/p>\n The Chamber and Senate had passed different versions of legalization legislation last year, and the bodies moved to make the bills identical<\/a>\u00a0in December. The\u00a0Senate overwhelmingly approved its version<\/a>\u00a0of the bill that month after it received initial approval in the Chamber.<\/p>\n The legalization\u00a0bill<\/a>\u00a0would support \u201cthe right of the free development of the personality, allowing citizens to decide on the consumption of cannabis in a regulated legal framework,\u201d it says. And it would mitigate \u201carbitrary discriminatory or unequal treatment in front of the population that consumes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n It also calls for public education campaigns and the promotion of substance misuse treatment services.<\/p>\n At\u00a0a public hearing in the Senate panel last year<\/a>, Justice Minister N\u00e9stor Osuna said that Colombia has been the victim of \u201ca failed war that was designed 50 years ago and, due to absurd prohibitionism, has brought us a lot of blood, armed conflict, mafias and crime.\u201d<\/p>\n The Chamber of Representatives\u00a0gave initial approval to the legalization bill<\/a>\u00a0last year. The head of the Interior Ministry also spoke in favor of the reform proposal at the time. That vote came shortly after a congressional committee\u00a0advanced this measure and a separate legalization bill<\/a>.<\/p>\n President Gustavo Petro, a progressive who has been strongly advocating for an international end to drug criminalization since being inaugurated in August, has discussed the possible benefits of cannabis legalization.<\/p>\n Los miembros de la @primerasenado<\/a> APROBARON en Primer Debate el PAL 33\/22 Senado \u2013 02\/22 C\u00e1mara (Regulaci\u00f3n del Cannabis de uso adulto).#Sesi\u00f3nOrdinariaPresencial<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Comisi\u00f3n Primera Senado (@PrimeraSenado) June 6, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Last year, the president\u00a0delivered a speech at a meeting of the United Nations (UN)<\/a>, urging member nations to fundamentally change their approaches to drug policy and disband with prohibition.<\/p>\n Petro has also talked about\u00a0the prospects of legalizing marijuana in Colombia<\/a>\u00a0as one means of reducing the influence of the illicit market.\u00a0And he signaled that the policy change should be followed by releasing people who are currently in prison over cannabis.<\/p>\n He spoke about the economic potential of a legal cannabis industry, one where small towns in places like the Andes, Corinto and Miranda could stand to benefit from legal marijuana cultivation, possibly without any licensing requirements.<\/p>\n The president also signaled that he\u2019d be interested in exploring the idea of \u200b\u200bexporting cannabis to other countries where the plant is legal.<\/p>\n Petro met with the president of Mexico last year, and the pair announced that they will be bringing together other Latin American leaders for an international conference focused on on\u00a0\u201credesigning and rethinking drug policy\u201d<\/a>\u00a0given the \u201cfailure\u201d of prohibition. Mexican lawmakers are also pursuing national legalization.<\/p>\n As a former member of Colombia\u2019s M-19 guerrilla group, Petro has seen the violent conflict between guerrilla fighters, narcoparamilitary groups and drug cartels that has been exacerbated by the government\u2019s aggressive approach to drug enforcement.<\/p>\n According to the United Nations Office of Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), Colombia remains a chief exporter of cocaine,\u00a0\u00a0despite\u00a0\u00a0\u201cdrug supply reduction activities in Colombia, such as eradication of coca bush and destruction of laboratories.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2020, Colombian legislators introduced a bill that would have regulated coca, the plant that is processed to produce cocaine, in an acknowledgment that the government\u2019s decades-long fight against the drug and its procedures have consistently failed.\u00a0That legislation cleared a committee, but it was ultimately shelved by the overall conservative legislature.<\/p>\n Advocates are optimistic that such a proposal could advance under the Petro administration. The president hasn\u2019t taken a clear stance on the legislation itself, but he campaigned on legalizing marijuana and promoted the idea of \u200b\u200bcannabis as an alternative to cocaine.<\/p>\n Former Colombia President Juan Manuel Santos has also been critical of the drug war and embraced reform. In an op-ed published before he left office, he criticized the United Nations and U.S. President Richard Nixon for their role in setting a drug war standard that has proven ineffective at best and counterproductive at worst.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is time we talk about responsible government regulation, look for ways to cut off the drug mafias\u2019 air supply, and tackle the problems of drug use with greater resources for prevention, care and harm reduction with regard to public health and the social fabric,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThis reflection must be global in scope in order to be effective,\u201d Santos, who is a member of the pro-reform Global Commission on Drug Policy, said.\u00a0\u201cIt must also be broad, including participation not only of governments but also of academia and civil society.\u00a0It must reach beyond law enforcement and judicial authorities and involve experts in public health, economists and educators, among other disciplines.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, a U.S. congressional delegation\u00a0returned from a visit to Colombia<\/a>\u00a0last year, and Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), who was part of the trip, told Marijuana Moment that one theme of his discussions with officials in the country was that the world has \u201clost the war on drugs.\u201d<\/p>\n Image element courtesy of Bryan Pocius<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n New Coalition Of Major Marijuana Groups Launches Push For Scheduling Reform, Even If It Falls Short of Legalization<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post Colombian Senators Approve Marijuana Legalization Bill, Setting Stage For Final Vote<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A bill to legalize marijuana in Colombia was approved in its second-to-last vote in the Senate on Tuesday, bringing the country one step closer to ending prohibition. However, advocates are increasingly concerned that unrelated governmental controversies could derail the effort this year as deadlines for action quickly approach. After advancingContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":65735,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81,126],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65734"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65734"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65734\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65736,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65734\/revisions\/65736"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Colombian Senators Approve Marijuana Legalization Bill, Setting Stage For Final Vote<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"