Colombia to decriminalize personal drug use

n/t

It simply doesn't apply up here.

... my fellow 800,000+ "homies" who get a pot bust each year in this country.

If the Mayo Clinic and Pat Robertson agree on medical cannabis, WTF is Barry's problem?

WTFWJD? Really?

He has to win first, and he knows that proposing Cannabis legalization (or worse, drug legalization) would be political suicide.

I just hope it is more significant than limited federal MMJ legalization, because Americans and the rest of the World want full legalization.

It's time to completely remove the Cannabis plant from the drug schedules. Anything less is insanity.

More people approve of it (50%) than disapprove (46%), according to the latest Gallup poll.

It's going to be on the ballot in Washington state, which is safely Democratic, and in Colorado, which is more contested. How many votes will being against legalization cost him in Colorado? How many could he gain by coming out forthrightly for it?

At this point, more people approve of legalizing weed than approve of Obama.

He would lose by a landslide if he proposed drug legalization. The race would be over that precise second.

Drug decriminalization or legalization--I agree, that is not a winning issue here at this point.

But marijuana legalization is actually going to be on the ballot. Support polls stronger than opposition, according to Gallup, and even more so in the West, where these initiatives will be voted on.

Can Obama duck the inevitable question? If not, what should he say?

President Obama wants your kids to get stoned at school

Toker in Chief says it's okay to get high on dangerous psychotropic drugs

Democratic nominee wants you and your kids to smoke dangerous narcotics

Republican nominee strongly opposes President Obama's drug legalization push. Cite safety.

President Obama's drug legalization bill blamed for child's death. Obama approved drugs found in father's pocket.


There are hundreds of other BS headlines the Republicans will write. He has no choice but to wait until after 2012. It doesn't matter if he just focuses on Marijuana, "Dangerous drugs" is already a synonym in media-speak. Legalizing before the election would be the ultimate gift to the other side.

Well, thank goodness, they don't have any other bullshit to throw at the Kenyan Muslin socialist.

No, Obama is not going to legalize marijuana in the next few months. I think that would take an act of Congress. But he is going to run in an election where marijuana legalization will be on the ballot in at least two states, possibly more. He is going to have to take a stand one way or the other. Somebody isn't going to be happy. Will it be the 50% that are ready to legalize, or the 46% who are not?

People are as sick of pot prohibition as they were of liquor prohibition -- when they elected the anti-prohibition FDR in a landslide. Already the majority of Americans favor decriminalizing and among likely Obama voters that percentage has to be above 90%. Obama would even pick up Republican and Libertarian votes if he came out for legal pot -- while keeping all the Democratic ones.

Why won't he do it?

Because he has sold out to someone. No other reason makes sense.

It ain't the press (anymore) that stands in the way of a sane drug policy. And, now that they are outnumbered, it's not the right-wing yahoos who are keeping pot progress from being made either. Today, the main reason for the continuation of the war on drugs must be laid directly at the feet of Obama himself. He alone is keeping the insane U.S. policy on pot completely insane.

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Above everything, the shadow gov't here WANTS that drug war to continue, as it provides the doorway through which it can ALWAYS direct war on any part of Latin America, and it NEEDS Colombia as its base of operations, keeping it all just the way it was under Uribe.

All the "enemies" in Latin America they used to call "commies," they now call "narcotraffickers" and "terrorists." Different day, same ol' stuff.

and that is unfortunate. possession of small quantities is a rational policy that should have been the case long ago in Colombia and everywhere else.

and Colombia is in a good position to tell the US to shove it. our overall alliance is strong and won't be impacted. Colombia is also hosting the conference so it would be bad form to criticize the host nation.

From a quick search, a review of a book I just saw:

Prelude to Terror: the Rogue CIA, The Legacy of America's Private Intelligence Network the Compromising of American Intelligence (Hardcover)

President Truman created the CIA in July, 1947, and, as early as April, 1948, the Agency perpetrated its first act of treason against the American and Latin American peoples, when it planned and executed a psychological warfare operation in Bogota, Colombia, where the 9th International Conference of Latin American States was taking place. The operation, now known as the Bogotazo, began with the assassination of Colombian leader Jorge Eliecer Gaitan, which triggered violent riots that destroyed the city. Next day, U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall, who was chairing the Conference, blamed the Communists for the events. The scared delegates, who, previously to the riots, have been reluctant to follow their master's voice, quickly jumped through the ring of fire, and unanimously approved the creation of the Organization of American States and condemned Soviet communism. This event marked the beginning of the Cold War in the Western Hemisphere.

Then, in 1953, the CIA mounted a covert operation that toppled the government of Premier Mossadegh in Iran. The poor guy had committed the sin of nationalizing an oil company owned by the British, and the CIA flexed its muscle in defense of the interests of its bosses. Kermit Roosevelt, the CIA officer who was in charge of the operation, was awarded a National Security Medal and praised by President Eisenhower.

The following year the CIA mounted another covert operation that overthrew Jacobo Arbenz, Guatemala's democratically elected president. The poor fellow had made the mistake of nationalizing 400,00 acres of banana plantations owned by the United Fruit Company. The CIA officers in charge of the successful operation were Tracy Barnes and Richard Bissell.

Now, correct me if I am wrong, but I suspect that these three operations I have mentioned above did not serve the personal political advantage or personal profit of Ted Shackley and his pirates. Actually the ones who directly benefited from these three early CIA operations were some Wall Street bankers and owners of transnational corporations. But these are not the only facts giving credence to my suspicion that Shackley was not the main illegal user of the CIA. As Trento himself points out in The Secret History of the CIA, the Company actually began in a secret room at the Council on Foreign Relations, where Allen Dulles "laid out a scheme to operate an Intelligence service outside the government." (In this new book Trento claims that it was in an office at 44 Wall Street, so at some time I expect he should try to put his act together.)

http://www.amazon.com/Prelude-Terror-Americas-Intelligence-Compromising/product-reviews/0786714646

From a book I'm currently reading:

A watershed in Colombian history known as La Violencia (1948-1958) erupted when the oligarchy split along political, ideological, and regional lines in their struggle against the landless workers and peasantry. From the late 1940's, this power struggle within the Colombian ruling class determined the fate of Colombian politics. Old rivalries between the two major political parties ini parliament, the Liberals and Conservatives, were consolidated. Amid the parliamentary infighting, a Liberal presidential candidate, Jorge Eliecer Gaitan, made a populist appeal against the oligarchy, piting the "real country" against the "political country." Gaitan souoght the support of the shopkeepers and professionals of the petite bourgeoisie, as well as the landless workers and peasantry. For the oligarchy, populism in any form was tantamount to communist subversion and was seen as a direct threat to their class inolombiaterests. This nationalist expression was demonstsrated through conflict between industrialists and unions. It reached a climax when Gaitan was gunned down in Bogota on April 9, 1948. His assassination was the first covert action by the CIA in Colombia and spurred a major uprising called the Bogotazo.

La Violencia ensured that land ownership by the oligarchy remained unchanged in Colombia. The landless remained landless, and the power of the oligarchs continued to dominate the nation's politics. For the urban elite, particularly the industrialists, La Violencia was an economic success. Capital accumulation was so great that President Alberto Lleras Camargo (1958-1962) concluded that "blood and capital accumulation went together." Political opposition was outlawed and repressed.

~snip~
From the beginning of La Violencia, U.S. political and economic support to Colombia created a form of Colombian dependency. Colombia's political dependence on the United States deepened the four-decade war against the FARC and continued into the U.S. war on drugs and war on Terror. Thtese campaigns provided the United States with the pretext to condemn the FARC as "narco-terrorists" and the main threat to Colombia.

Forty-eight percent of Colombian land is owned by wealthy absentee landlords, who make up 1.3 percent of the population. Poor peasants, who account for 68 percent of the population, own approximately five percent of the land. Wealth and influence are concentrated in the hands of the compradores, with a 1998 study estimating that 42 percent of the arable land is owned by the drug cartels, integrating drug traffickers into Colombian agribusiness, military defense, and politics.

Chapter 1
Cocaine, Death Squads, and the War on Terror
U.S. Imperialism and Class Struggle in Colombia
By Oliver Villar and Drew Cottle

http://www.tradingeconomics.com/colombia/rural-population-wb-data.html

http://www.indexmundi.com/facts/colombia/urban-population

the numbers don't seem to jibe with the book you're reading. is it fiction? Colombia isn't a nation of a majority of Juan Valdez's.

anyway, Colombia isn't playing along with the conspiracy it seems?? you think the "shadow" government will have him killed?

The Supreme Court decriminalized in 1994, Uribe tried to undo it, the Supreme Court affirmed it again last year. So why does the legislature have to do anything?

Can somebody help me here?

Also, the article mentions:

The document proposes a five gram personal limit on Marijuana and a one gram limit on substances like Cocaine and Crack. The document also introduces substances not covered by the Supreme Court ruling such as Methamphetamines and Ecstasy.

I'm not sure, beyond this. Hoping someone might add more substance.

The El Tiempo piece clarifies. This legislation will bring the criminal law back in line with the Supreme Court's ruling from last year. Earlier last year, the Santos government passed legislation that didn't include the personal dose language; this new legislation does.

It being illegal under Uribe sure didn't stop all kinds of street vendors from trying to sell me eight balls (3.5 grams) of polvo puro for $15 a few years ago. I'm too old for that shit now.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/41483660@N04/6971558501/" title="medmj_500 by pbmus, on Flickr"><img src="" width="500" height="359" alt="medmj_500"></a>

Thanks for the thread, Judi Lynn.

Checkmate: Colombia Will Decriminalize Drugs
Thursday, 15 March 2012 00:00

Editor's Note: President Porfirio Lobo of Honduras last week invited Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos Mexico's President Felipe Calderón to attend a meeting of the presidents of the Central American Integration System (SICA) on March 24 in Guatemala. The focus of the reunion will be a proposal by Guatemalan President Otto Pérez Molina to legalize drugs.

By Phillip Smith

The government of Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos is preparing legislation that will set "personal dose" amounts for drugs that will allow for their possession without the possibility of arrest or prosecution, the Bogota newspaper El Tiempo reported Tuesday. The decriminalization legislation could be presented as early this week, the newspaper said in its exclusive report.

Colombia was the first Latin American country to decriminalize drug possession after a ruling by its Constitutional Court in 1994. But during the presidency of Santos' predecessor, Alvaro Uribe, the government amended the constitution to criminalize drug use, effectively re-criminalizing drug possession.

Last year, the Colombian Supreme Court threw out Uribe's changes, ruling that the possession of small quantities of drugs for personal use was a constitutional right. This pending legislation recognizes last year's ruling and actualizes it by setting the "personal dose" amounts.

More:
http://www.hondurasweekly.com/checkmate:-colombia-will-decriminalize-drugs-201203154983/

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4171434

Basically, Kindasleezy was the operative in allowing Dyncorp to dust their
crops- killing off centuries of medicinal and meditative use of the cocoa plant.

BFEE at work.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4171434

BHN

More:http://www.cipcol.org/archives/cat_us_policy.htm

Please watch:
http://www.alunathemovie.com/en
A movie by the Kogi, for the rest of us...

Open Letter to the President of the United States George W. Bush


COLOMBIA
About fumigations in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta


I work for a French NGO , "Tchendukua" whose goal is to recuperate land
for the Kogi Indians living in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in
Colombia.

In 2000 we bought, La Luna, a land, with access to the sea, It was the
first time since the Spanish invasion, the Kogis had a low land. They
where so happy, full of hope.
At the end of June 2004, La Luna became an " Indigenous Reserve" , a
protected area...
The Sierra is also one of the UNESCO's "Biosphere Reserves".
Fifteen days later, on July 17th, a plane from Dyncorp passed only once
to fumigate La Luna. That was enough to provoke a complete disaster.
Some days ago, I saw the rushes of a second movie we have made on the
Kogis.
Now, La Luna is like some places in Asia after the tsunami... I could
not believe it.

The Kogis took five years to regenerate the soil, now they will have to
wait, at least, five more years to replant. Everything is contaminated
and the streams are dry because there are no more trees to retain water.
What are they going to eat? What are they going to drink? Where to go?
Tchendukua's director in Santa Marta organized some time ago with the
Kogis and the farmers around, the eradication of coca by hand. There was
no coca in La Luna.
It is impossible that your sophisticated planes are unable to detect
Indians villages.

In the movie there is a scene with a Kogi shaman sitting in front of his
house, in the middle of the devastation. He is crying.
This image is unbearable and it will remain in my memory forever.
Yes, Mr. Bush, an image can turn people really angry.
Remember the picture of Nick Ut showing a little girl naked, burned by
Napalm, running on a road in Vietnam. This image had an incredible
impact in America.

Condolezza Rice wants Colombia to change its laws and spray in National
Parks such as La Macarena, El Catatumbo, La Sierra Nevada de Santa
Marta, etc...
To achieve that dirty job, a new aerial base for fumigation planes will
be build, $125 million.


The fumigation of La Luna on July 17th 2004 was completely illegal.

In the Sierra, Kogis, Arsarios-Wiwas, Kankuamos and Arhuacos are
starting to have health problems , especially children (see notes-page
14).

In Vietnam, after 45 years, Agent Orange is still active.
The new poisoned cocktail is called Agent Green. If you take the
ingredients one by one, it doesn't seem so dangerous. If you mix them,
highly concentrated, it is a terrible weapon. The mixture is made with
Monsanto Round Up Ultra, Cosmoflux 411F (illegal in the US), POEA and
the fungus fusarium oxysporum EN-4.

Dr David Sands, an American scientist who made some researches on EN-4
admits
( interview with the BBC-2000) that you can call it a Green Warfare or a
Biological Warfare.
When you had a few cases of Anthrax in your country it was immediately
called a terrorist biological attack...

The Dutch government donated 500.000 euros for the eradication of coca
by hand in the Amazonas and the Sierra. A part of this donation is
dedicated for substitution cultures and social development.
The Netherlands asked the parks director, Julia Miranda, to confirm
whether the decision to fumigate on the protected aeras was definitive,
because if it were so, "it could be motive to request the suspension of
activities financed by his Embassy".

Mr. Bush, you and your government, you will be responsible for the
genocide or ethnocide (see notes-page 10)) of the most ancient and
sophisticated precolombian cultures in Colombia.

The proper name for this worthless so-called drugwar is < BIOLOGICAL and
CHEMICAL WARFARE <.

Before writing this, I've asked to a Dr in Molecular Biology if I could
use those words, the answer was yes.

Mr. Bush, will you dare to say that you are doing this "In the Name of
God"?

Where are the courageous American scientists who helped to stop the
fumigations with Agent Orange in Vietnam in 1971?

REQUIEM FOR THE SIERRA NEVADA DE SANTA MARTA... AND MANY OTHER PLACES!


Paquita
(May 2005)
kogis@wanadoo.fr




NOTES:

UNITED NATIONS
Economic and Social Council
Distr. GENERAL E/CN.4/2005/88/Add.2 10 November 2004

COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS Sixty-first session Item 15 of the
provisional agenda

INDIGENOUS ISSUES
Human rights and indigenous issues.
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and
fundamental freedoms of indigenous people, Mr. Rodolfo Stavenhagen
Addendum MISSION TO COLOMBIA*

Page 10

On the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, an area
visited by the Special Rapporteur, the Kankuamo people (3,000 families,
13,000 people and 12 communities), who live inside the "black line"
which marks the traditional boundary of their territory, are now in the
process of reclaiming their indigenous identity. Their lands have been
recognized, but no reserve has yet been established. Guerrilla groups
started arriving in the 1980s and AUC set up a base there in the 1990s,
with the result that the number of kidnappings and murders escalated to
a level far above the rural and regional average, particularly from 1998
onwards. It was then that the massacres of indigenous people, the mass
displacements, the blockades and the forced confinement of communities
to their villages began. More than 300 families are reportedly still
displaced as a result of attacks and threats of various kinds. The
accounts given to the Special Rapporteur testified to the continued
ethnic!
cleansing, genocide and ethnocide of the Kankuamo people despite the
protective and precautionary measures requested by the Ombudsman and the
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and several urgent appeals by
a number of special mechanisms of the Commission on Human Rights.

Page 14

Indigenous organizations described to the Special Rapporteur the adverse
effects of indiscriminate spraying, including environmental damage to
the topsoil, fauna, flora and water, the destruction of subsistence
crops and direct damage to human health, including birth defects. The
Special Rapporteur was also told that there are technical and scientific
studies to substantiate these assertions. The indigenous peoples see the
aerial spraying of coca plantations as yet another violation of their
human rights and, save for a few occasions when they have given their
consent, actively oppose the practice; this position again brands them
as guerrilla sympathizers, as happened after the rights marches
organized by certain indigenous communities to protest against the
spraying. The Office of the Ombudsman has received 318 complaints
concerning spraying operations in three municipalities in Putumayo in
July 2002 and their effect on 6,070 families and 5,034 hectares of land.

Too much, too little, too late...
BHN