A Colombian Senate committee has approved a bill to legalize marijuana, sending it the full chamber for consideration.<\/p>\n
The legislation\u2014which has already moved through committee and on the floor in the Chamber of Representatives<\/a> in recent months\u2014cleared the First Committee of the Senate on Wednesday. This marks the third of eight planned debates before the measure is potentially sent to the president next year.<\/p>\n Lawmakers nearly enacted a version of the reform into law earlier this year, but it stalled out in the final stage in the Senate last session, meaning the two-year legislative process needed to start over again<\/a>. Rep. Juan Carlos Losada and Sen. Mar\u00eda Jos\u00e9 Pizarro reintroduced the legislation in July.<\/p>\n Aprobado con 15 votos en 3er debate nuestro proyecto de #CannabisDeUsoAdulto<\/a>.<\/p>\n Seguimos avanzando en una regulaci\u00f3n que le quite el negocio a las mafias, con enfoque en prevenci\u00f3n, salud p\u00fablica, protecci\u00f3n a la ni\u00f1ez y oportunidades econ\u00f3micas para las regiones.\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/dGvZXvsbXa<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Juan Carlos Losada (@JuanKarloslos) November 22, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n \u201cThe war strategy on drugs has failed,\u201d Pizarro said<\/a> during Wednesday\u2019s debate, according to a translation. \u201cIt has not been effective and consumption has not decreased.\u201d<\/p>\n Losada said ahead of the vote on Wednesday that lawmakers are pursuing \u201cregulation with a public health focus that protects minors and provides economic opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n Regulating marijuana \u201cis the first step to move forward in changing the failed drug prohibition policy,\u201d he said<\/a>.<\/p>\n The legislation was previously approved in both chambers last year as part of the two-year process that constitutional amendments must undergo. It then\u00a0passed the Chamber of Deputies again in May<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0advanced through a Senate committee<\/a> in July. But while it received a majority of the votes on the Senate floor, it fell short of the 54-vote threshold it needed for passage.<\/p>\n\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> last year, and the head of the Interior Ministry similarly spoke in favor of the reform proposal at the time.<\/p>\n President Gustavo Petro\u2014a progressive who recently unveiled a new national drug policy focused on loosening criminal penalties and instead working to transition Colombians to legal sectors of the economy\u2014has strongly advocated for an international end to drug criminalization since being inaugurated last year.<\/p>\n Aprobado en 3er debate nuestro proyecto que busca regularizar el #CannabisDeUsoAdulto<\/a>.<\/p>\n Nos propusimos con @JuanKarloslos<\/a> no bajar los brazos y volver a dar el debate en el Congreso y nos emociona que avance. Restan cinco debates, sigue la discusi\u00f3n en plenaria de Senado pic.twitter.com\/Xjq8faqEIi<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Mar\u00eda Jos\u00e9 Pizarro Rodr\u00edguez (@PizarroMariaJo) November 22, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n After a recent visit to the U.S., the president recalled smelling the odor of marijuana wafting through the streets of New York City, remarking on the \u201cenormous hypocrisy\u201d of legal cannabis sales now taking place in the nation that launched the global drug war<\/a> decades ago.<\/p>\n Petro also took a\u00a0lead role at the Latin American and Caribbean Conference on Drugs in September<\/a>, noting Colombia and Mexico \u201care the biggest victims of this policy,\u201d likening the drug war to \u201ca genocide.\u201d<\/p>\n At that event, 19 countries jointly issued a statement asserting that \u201cthe expected results have not been obtained when combating the world drug problem, leaving in many cases the underlying problems to be solved and exploiting and exacerbating vulnerabilities of our territories and societies.\u201d<\/p>\n Petro said at the closing of that conference that \u201cwhat I propose is to have a different and unified voice that defends our society, our future and our history and stops repeating a failed discourse.\u201d He argued that it was wrong to look at drug control \u201cas a military problem and not as a health problem in society.\u201d<\/p>\n In a separate speech, Petro acknowledged that by criminalizing cannabis and other drugs, Colombia and the international community have victimized peasant families as well as Indigenous and Black communities.<\/p>\n \u201cDrug trafficking was not born in Colombian blood. They built it for us,\u201d he said, noting that the low cost of producing drugs makes Colombia an appealing area to grow illicit crops like marijuana and coca, which are processed and then smuggled to sell at higher prices in wealthier countries.<\/p>\n Those countries \u201cnever wanted to develop a policy of prevention or regulation or mitigation of harm among consumers,\u201d Petro said, instead preferring to blame poorer, less white countries like Colombia. \u201cThat\u2019s an easy policy,\u201d he added, accusing the U.S. and other developed nations of \u201cxenophobic and racist complexes.\u201d<\/p>\n Last year, Petro delivered 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 He\u2019s 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 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 UN 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 U.S. Virgin Islands Governor Calls On People To \u2018Proactively\u2019 Reach Out About Marijuana Expungements As Government Faces Criticism Over Equity Rollout<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Image element courtesy of Bryan Pocius<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Colombia Senate Committee Approves Marijuana Legalization Bill, Sending It To A Floor Vote Next<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A Colombian Senate committee has approved a bill to legalize marijuana, sending it the full chamber for consideration. The legislation\u2014which has already moved through committee and on the floor in the Chamber of Representatives in recent months\u2014cleared the First Committee of the Senate on Wednesday. This marks the third ofContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":0,"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\/70367"}],"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=70367"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70367\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70368,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70367\/revisions\/70368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Colombia Senate Committee Approves Marijuana Legalization Bill, Sending It To A Floor Vote Next<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"