Conclusions of the IV Latin American Conference on Drug Policy

In this conference some of the orientations of drug policy became clear: "A policy that protects and encourages economic development of farmers and peasants instead of chasing and imprisoning them, a policy that prioritize their access to land ownership, promote economic prosperity and respect the traditional use of the coca leaf", said Pablo Cymerman, coordinator of the Organizing Committee of the IV Conference and member of Intercambios Civil Association.

In terms of consumption care, it was suggested that treatments can’t have abstinence as a starting point, and that a drug policy without harm reduction is not comprehensive. The experiences already exist. Alternatives with drug users’ involvement to define public policies, social promotion actions, community involvement and regulated consumption rooms, among others were presented in this conference.

Until now, all the speeches call to respect the rights of users. We need less talk and more action in this field: the people who use illicit drugs often face situations of discrimination, rejection and violence, imprisonment, torture and violent compulsive treatments that increase their suffering rather than promote health and quality of life. In this sense, Cymerman said: "In drug policy it is no longer enough to talk about human rights, we need to take action. We hope to have moved from the rhetoric to the paradigm change towards concrete actions that help to build the new paradigm we are demanding. That is our dream and we will go on to make it happen".

The meeting gathered more than forty experts, specialists, governmental officials, coca farmers, growers and drug users from around the world who, approaching the issue from various axes, converged on the relevance of the specific changes within drug policy, considering a focus on harm reduction as well as the new strategies emerging in the region that promote a more humanistic approach on drugs.

Coincidentally with the debate sponsored by the conference, the Colombian president joined his Guatemalan counterpart Otto Perez Molina and former presidents, as well as outstanding personalities of science, art and culture, to reassert and remind throughout a letter the failure of the strategy known as "war on drugs", which focuses on repression and prohibition. The conference took place at the city of Bogotá, gathered over 600 attendants at the Town Hall, on December 5th and 6th.

The IV Conference on Drug Policy was sponsored by the Mayor of Bogotá, the Ministry of Health and Social Protection of the Republic of Colombia, the Ministry of Justice and Law of the Republic of Colombia, International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC ) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

On the first day, the Mayor of Bogota Gustavo Petro emphasized: "There is a correlation between violence and a particular style of drug policy. The drug prohibition has built some illicit trade routes that can only grow powerfully by the extermination of human beings. The correlate of drug prohibition is the massacre".

The opening ceremony also had speeches from Bo Mathiesen, head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime in Colombia (UNODC), Farid Samir Benavides Vanegas, Vice minister of Criminal Policy and Restorative Justice of the Ministry of Justice and Law in Colombia, Coletta Youngers, representative of the International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC), Julian Quintero, Director of the Corporation Acción Técnica Social (ATS) and local organizer of the meeting, and Graciela Touzé, president of Intercambios, regional organizer of the Conference.

When explaining the reasons for holding the IV Conference, Touzé said: "We want to promote a debate and make use of the democratic right to disagree with the dominant discourses and practices in the field of drugs. And we want to make use of this right with the intent of changing a reality that makes us feel uncomfortable and hurts us".

Meanwhile, Julian Quintero, director of the Corporation Acción Técnica Social (ATS) of Colombia, host organization of the meeting, said: "We are not here to discuss the failure of the war on drugs that we all know already, but to concentrate on how will we can change this paradigm".

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