guardian.co.uk,
Jamie Doward, Saturday 7 April 2012
 |
| Guatemala's president Otto Perez Molina believes a new approach to Latin America's war on drugs is urgently needed. Photograph: Johan Ordonez/AFP/Getty Images |
A historic
meeting of Latin America's leaders, to be attended by Barack Obama, will hear
serving heads of state admit that the war on drugs has been a failure and that
alternatives to prohibition must now be found.
The Summit
of the Americas, to be held in Cartagena, Colombia is being seen by foreign
policy experts as a watershed moment in the redrafting of global drugs policy
in favour of a more nuanced and liberalised approach.
Otto Pérez
Molina, the president of Guatemala, who as former head of his country's
military intelligence service experienced the power of drug cartels at close
hand, is pushing his fellow Latin American leaders to use the summit to endorse
a new regional security plan that would see an end to prohibition. In the Observer, Pérez Molina writes: "The prohibition paradigm that inspires
mainstream global drug policy today is based on a false premise: that global
drug markets can be eradicated."
Pérez
Molina concedes that moving beyond prohibition is problematic. "To suggest
liberalisation – allowing consumption, production and trafficking of drugs
without any restriction whatsoever – would be, in my opinion, profoundly
irresponsible. Even more, it is an absurd proposition. If we accept regulations
for alcoholic drinks and tobacco consumption and production, why should we
allow drugs to be consumed and produced without any restrictions?"
He insists,
however, that prohibition has failed and an alternative system must be found.
"Our proposal as the Guatemalan government is to abandon any ideological
consideration regarding drug policy (whether prohibition or liberalisation) and
to foster a global intergovernmental dialogue based on a realistic approach to
drug regulation. Drug consumption, production and trafficking should be subject
to global regulations, which means that drug consumption and production should
be legalised, but within certain limits and conditions."
The
decision by Pérez Molina to speak out is seen as highly significant and not
without political risk. Polls suggest the vast majority of Guatemalans oppose
decriminalisation, but Pérez Molina's comments are seen by many as helping to
usher in a new era of debate. They will be studied closely by foreign policy
experts who detect that Latin American leaders are shifting their stance on
prohibition following decades of drugs wars that have left hundreds of
thousands dead.
Mexico's
president, Felipe Calderón, has called for a national debate on the issue. Last
year Juan Manuel Santos, Colombia's president, told the Observer that if
legalising drugs curtailed the power of organised criminal gangs who had
thrived during prohibition, "and the world thinks that's the solution, I
will welcome it".
One
diplomat closely involved with the summit described the event as historic,
saying it would be the first time for 40 years that leaders had met to have an
open discussion on drugs. "This is the chance to look at this matter with
new eyes," he said.
Latin
America's increasing hostility towards prohibition makes Obama's attendance at
the summit potentially difficult. The Obama administration, keen not to hand
ammunition to its opponents during an election year, will not want to be seen
as softening its support for prohibition. However, it is seen as significant
that the US vice-president, Joe Biden, has acknowledged that the debate about
legalising drugs is now legitimate.
Fernando
Henrique Cardoso, former president of Brazil and chairman of the global
commission on drug policy, has said it is time for "an open debate on more
humane and efficient drug policies", a view shared by George Shultz, the
former US secretary of state, and former president Jimmy Carter.
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