Argentine president calls for decriminalization of drug use

Argentine president calls for decriminalization of drug use – CNN.com
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (CNN) — President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner repeated her call this week to decriminalize personal drug use and crack down on traffickers and dealers.

President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner says she doesn’t like to “condemn someone who has an addiction.”

“I don’t like it when people easily condemn someone who has an addiction as if he were a criminal, as if he were a person who should be persecuted,” she told a meeting of the National Investigation into the Consumption of Alcohol, Tobacco, Psychopharmaceuticals and Illegal Drugs.

“Those who should be persecuted are those who sell the substances, those who give it away, those who traffic in it.”

Studies and evidence have shown that decriminalization of drug possession does not lead to an increase in drug use.  It really makes sense if you think about it – once the drug has made it to the user’s hand, it’s too late to try to deter his use through criminal penalty.

President Fernandez de Kirchner is joining many European leaders and seven of our own Congresspersons in calling for a sensible end to locking up people for their personal use of one drug or another.