Is America Ready to Admit Defeat in Its 40-Year War on Drugs? A wave of decriminalization is sweeping through Latin America

Is America Ready to Admit Defeat in Its 40-Year War on Drugs?

A wave of decriminalization is sweeping through Latin America

by Ed Vulliamy in Tijuana

Bruno Avangera, a 40-year-old web designer from Tucumán in Argentina, pauses to relight a half-smoked joint of cannabis. Then he speaks approvingly of "progress and the right decision" by the country's seven supreme court judges, who decided last week that prosecuting people for the private consumption of small amounts of narcotics was unconstitutional.

"Last year three of my friends were caught smoking a spliff in a park and were treated like traffickers," he said. "They went to court, which took six months. One went to jail alongside murderers. The others were sent to rehab, where they were treated for an addiction they didn't have, alongside serious heroin and crack users. It was pointless and destroyed their lives."

Members of the 'Rastrojos' drug trafficking group after surrendering weapons in Carepa province in Medellin, Colombia, May 21, 2009. (Photograph: Fredy Amariles/Reuters)

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