News and Politics | October 17, 2008 | 10 comments

Latin America: Honduran president joins drug legalization chorus

source: http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/556/honduras_president_zelaya_drug_legalization

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pokesmot
During a conference in Tegucigalpa bringing together UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) officials and drug ministers from 32 Latin American and Caribbean nations, the conference host, Honduran President Manuel Zelaya called for legalizing drug use. In so doing, he joins a growing list of Latin American leaders singing the same tune.

Legalizing drug use, or more accurately, decriminalization, would de-fang international drug trafficking organizations and free Honduras of the financial burden of attempting to impose drug prohibition, Zelaya said. "The trade of arms, drugs and people... are scourges on the international economy, and we are unable to provide effective responses" because of the global drug prohibition regime, Zelaya said Monday at the opening of the 18th meeting of regional leaders against drug trafficking.

Drug users should be considered patients, not criminals, Zelaya said. Drug users could be treated by health care professionals instead of arrested or harassed by police. And the state could stop throwing money down a rat hole, too, he added. "Rather than continue to kill and capture traffickers, we could invest in resources for education and training," the Honduran leader said.

Like the rest of Central America, Honduras is plagued by illegal drug syndicates typically using the country as a transshipment point for Colombian cocaine headed for the North American market. It is also seeing increasing drug use levels as some of the product inevitably falls off of the back of the truck.
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10 comments // Latin America: Honduran president joins drug legalization chorus

  • pokesmot
    • 0
      pokesmot  

    • I don' think Obama or Mccain has anything to do with this particular subject, yet. We have more folks in prisons than any Nation, and only for jobs(dea,prison gaurds).

    • 3 years ago
  • localsly
    • 0
      localsly  

    • I'm not sure where i go with this, its good and bad in my eyes. I think that which ever way we go there will be something that will be controlled illegally, but trying to stop a good chunk is nice.

      bap bap baaap!

    • 3 years ago
  • mattymo
  • pokesmot
  • Robroy1
    • 0
      Robroy1  

    • Its time for America and the rest of the world to stop wasting good money on the DEA and other organizations and legalize drugs and prostitution and use all of the wasted billions to work for the betterment of American citizens. It is time for America to wake up and make America great again since we are now getting rid of the worst administration in the history of the great nation which has dragged America throught the mud and to depths never seen or even imagined before. Hopefully this country will be turned around by a good and strong leader intrested in America and its people instead of himself and his own selfish intrests.

    • 3 years ago
  • armchaircritic
    • 0
      armchaircritic  

    • Legalisation and De-criminalisation, in my view, are two separate things.

      Legalisation means you could walk down a street smoking herb, or any drug.

      Decriminalisation means that users would not be tainted as criminals for doing something that exercises their right of free will as a human.

      These days, with the black market being so vast, you simply cannot move from Prohibition to Legalisation in one swoop. We have to fight for decriminalisation first.. to bring in measures of viable supply and support structures, while still going after large scale organised drug crime.

    • 3 years ago
  • SDLN
    • 0
      SDLN  

    • They always seem to mistake regulation for control. Human behavior can certainly be regulated through humane measures, but to completely control people, which seems to be the ends of prohibition, unacceptable brutality is necessary.

    • 3 years ago
  • naturechild
    • 0
      naturechild  

    • It is true that drugs destroy lives, but we have to outsmart the people who make business out of this. This however, won't have a positive effect unless the U.S. acts accordingly. It just makes me think how the health industry would benefit from decriminalization of drugs. The health care system in this country is already in the gutter.

    • 3 years ago
  • pokesmot
    • 0
      pokesmot  

    • Thanks schobiz, as long as the cartels and criminals have control...all is lost. President Manuel Zelaya is a brave man with great foresight.

    • 3 years ago
  • schobiz
    • 0
      schobiz  

    • This is the direction we are moving in. The sooner we are able to engage each other in intelligent conversation about how we can reform drug law, the sooner we can reduce crime, disease, corruption, and concentrate on the well-being of our people and planet. This is certainly going to be one of the greatest challenges of the century.

    • 3 years ago
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