Argentine s Supreme Court Declaracion about unconstitutionality of punishment for drug possession and consumption and new risks for drug users.

Transcription

1 Argentine s Supreme Court Declaracion about unconstitutionality of punishment for drug possession and consumption and new risks for drug users. The challenges of harm reduction on times of changes and misunderstandings SILVIA INCHAURRAGA ARGENTINEAN HARM REDUCTION ASSOCIATION Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Drogadependencias y SIDA (CEADS) UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL DE ROSARIO

2 It would be beneficial to mention the three stages of history; when man believed happiness depended on God, he killed for religious reasons. When man believed happiness depended on the form of government, he killed for political reasons. Through long years of dreams that were converted into nightmares we have arrived at the present, man has awakened and discovered something that he always knew: that happiness depends on health, and he has begun to kill for therapeutic reasons. Adolfo Bioy Casares

3 rrai ARGENTINA second largest country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires It is the eighth-largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations, though Mexico, Colombia and Spain are more populous.

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5 THIS IS NOT HIPOCRECY THIS IS POLICY

6 AND SO DO ARGENTINEANS

7 Journalist - Have you even used drugs? Journalist: But you did not liked them, did you? YES Of course I liked them. There is the problem PRAGMATISM AND COMPLEXITY BOTH FOR CLINICAL APROACHES WHERE PLEASURE MUST BE INVOLVED AS FOR SOCIAL APPROCHES WHERE SAFE USE MUST BE INVOLVED.

8 MEETINGS OF FORMER LATIN AMERICAN PRESIDENTS SUPPORTING DECRIMINALISATION Febrero 2009 Zedillo (México), Cardozo (Brasil), Gaviria (Colombia) Latin American Comission on Drugs and Democracy decriminalisation of marijuana possession for personal use and changement of paradigme on the fight against drugs. represives strategies must leave the drug user to focus on an strong war on organized crime.

9 SCENARIO DRUG CRIME POVERTY POVERTY MEANS THAT ONE MORE GRAM COULD SUPPORT A FAMILY IN A SHANTYTOWN AND SO DOÑA ROSA IS NOT A DRUG DEALER BUT A POOR MOTHER OF 10 KIDS

10 DANGEROUS ANSWER - BEING THE LATINAMERICAN TENDENCE - CRIMINALISATION OF POVERTY SUPPORTING A FALSE SENSE OF SECURITY

11 NEGLECTED ISSUE WHEN MANY EXPERTS SPEAKS ABOUT DECRIMINALISATION IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

12 THE DISCOURSE OF THE ABSTINENCE IS STILL THE OFFICIAL DISCOURSE AND POLICY, THE OLD AND FAILED JUST SAY NO TO EVIL DRUGS

13 DRUG CONTROL LAW FACTS FACING MYTHS POSSESSION RELATED DETENTIONS Arrests for personal possession Tenencia Simple Tenencia para consumo personal comerciar, distribuir o transportar estupefacientes

14 Rights and Principles Affected by Prohibition Rights of Privacy and Principle of Autonomy. Ensured by a) Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 12; b) Inter American Convention on Human Rights, Article 11; c) International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 17 Right of Access to Health Ensured by a) Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 25; b) International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, Article 12; c) International Convention on the Rights of the Child, Articles 24, 25, and 26; d) Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, Article 12 Principle of Legality and Rationality Ensured by a) Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 11, section 2; b) Inter American Convention of Human Rights, Article 9; c) International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 9, section 1

15 WHEN A JURIDIC LAW IS PERVERSE TRANGRESSION TO IT BECOME A LAW LAWS HAVE SEVERAL LEVELS OF ACTION. ORGANIZATIONAL. REPARATORY. SOCIAL AGRUPATION

16 Argentina s Supreme Court of Justice of Argentina August 25, 2009, unanimously declared to be unconstitutional the second paragraph of Article 14 of the drug control legislation (Law 23,737), which punishes the possession of drugs for personal consumption with prison sentences ranging from one month to two years. According to the Court, the unconstitutionality of the article is applicable to cases of drug possession for personal consumption that does not affect others.

17 The Court s new ruling, known as Arriola, represents a return to the Bazterrica framework of 1986, although with some limits. The Court noted: the second paragraph of Article 14 of Law Nº should be invalidated, since it violates Article 19 of the National Constitution as invades the sphere of personal liberty, which is excluded from the authority of state organs.

18 From my skin inward begins my exclusive jurisdiction. I choose what can and cannot cross this frontier. I am a sovereign state and the border of my skin is much more sacred to me that the political confines of any country. Anonymous contemporary

19 Argentine National Constitution on Article 19 says: Private actions that offend in no way order and public morals, or damage a third party, are exclusively reserved to God, and are exempt from the authority of judges. Derecho a la Privacidad

20 Even if the unconstitutionality of this legal disposition is declared, it has been not established the limit of the circumstances that do not bring any concrete danger or harm to the rights and welfare of others or about the actions that do not offend public morals or the rights of others, leaving a gray area between intimicy and privacy.

21 On the negative consequences of criminal approaches to drug consumers, Supreme Court Judge Zaffaroni noted: the criminal sanctioning of drug users [ ] has become an obstacle for the recovery of those few who are drug dependent, since it only serves to stigmatize them and reinforce their identification with drug use

22 Some of the risks to face for the next decade will be the consecquences of having this sentence but not a new drug control law. So drug users still need to face :. police arrests. the application of these criteria by other courts (ex. how they interprete the term affect others ) and. the possibility of being incriminated

23 As the Court has said, the penal repressive response for drug users is ineffective and inhumane. Today the lack of a drug control law that depenalize drug use and drug possession is not only still a harm for drug users, (as it is the survival of Law 23737) but also a risk for all those that could have misunderstand that the Supreme Court has depenalised.

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26 MAY 8, 2010 GLOBAL MILLON MARIHUANA MARCH IN ARGENTINA WITH MARCHS IN BUENOS AIRES AND ROSARIO CLAIMING FOR DEPENALISATION AND A NEW DRUG CONTROL LAW

27 FIRST MARCH MMM ROSARIO, 2002 ARGENTINEAN DEPENALISATION CAMPAIGN

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29 DRUG USERS ARE NOT CRIMINALS, THEY ARE CITIZENS KEY ROLE OF HARM REDUCTION FACING THE LACK OF A DRUG CONTROL LAW AND AN OFFICIAL HUMANE DRUG POLICY

30 HARM REDUCTION MUST FACE ISSUES RELATED TO CRIMINALISATION PRISON ESTIGMA CLANDESTINITY VIOLENCE CORRUPTION

31 IF YOU ARE ARRESTED, KNOW YOUR RIGHTS HARM REDUCTION PROGRAM SEX, DRUGS & ROCK AND ROLL ARDA

32 POLICE CORRUPTION VIOLENCE ARBITRARY ARRESTS INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS DAMAGED STIGMA HARM REDUCTION PROGRAM ON POOR NEIGHBORHOODS AND SHANTY-TOWNS ON ARGENTINA, ARDA

33 ALLIANCES INTO THE ANTIPROHIBITIONIST MOVEMENT Regional drug policy reform movements Depenalisation Campaigns Legalisation Campaigns on producing countries. Perú Bolivia and Colombia - Coca Soberanía Global Marijuana Marchs MMM Argentina, Chile, Brasil and México

34 KEY ROLE OF ALLIANCES WITH HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANISATIONS Universidad Popular Madres de Plaza de Mayo

35 HUMAN RIGHTS & HARM REDUCTION LINKED IN DEPENALISATION PROPOSAL Federal Judge EDUARDO FREILER Director Penitenciary SystemL DR BUFARINI Director CEADS UNR - DRA INCHAURRAGA LIC. CELENTANO Regional Officer National Institute Against Discrimination INADI- STELLA MARIS VALLEJO -

36 OFFICIAL PRESENTATION HUMAN RIGHTS AND DRUG USE HANDBOOK AT NATIONAL SENATORS CAMARA Judge EDUARDO FREILER Director CEADS UNR - DRA INCHAURRAGA National Diputy LEONARDO GORBACQ

37 HUMAN RIGHTS AND DRUG USE HANDBOOK

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39 TRIP TO EARTH REPORT ON HOW HUMAN BEINGS DEAL WITH DRUGS The film is an animation about an alien studying the planet Earth and his research on how humans deal with some inanimate objects, called DRUGS. From a naive point of view he wondered about several contradictions, neglected issue and social attitudes.. He analyses how humans beings respect or tolerate that others harm themselves in several ways but not with drugs. The film tries to make a contribution towards the ongoing national debate, and towards changing the law, the policy and the attitude of society to drugs, drug users and depenalisation. FILM TRIP TO EARTH FILM FESTIVAL SCREENING Today HS.

40 There is a particular situation regarding use of illegal drugs. Even if they are not the cause that the users react with irrationnatily, they are certainly the cause that non users react on that way Lester Grinspoon, 1997 Marihuana, forbidden medicine

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