Declaration of Argentine judges, prosecutors and public defenders for drug policy that respects human rights
August 29, 1986, the Supreme Court of the Nation declared the unconstitutionality of the persecution of crimes for possession of narcotics for personal consumption.
The cased about about the raiding of the home of guitarist Gustavo Bazterrica, member of the band Grandfathers of Nothing and musician Charly García, which occurred in 1981, whom the police seized a few grams of substances for personal consumption and which the lower courts had sentenced a prison sentence and fine.
The Supreme Court held that the sentence should be invalid, since the persecution of the crime for possession of narcotics for personal consumption was in violation of article 19 of the Constitution, in so far as it violates personal freedom, exempt from the authority of State entities.
Despite the forcefulness of the ruling, the country sustained identical criminalization in the legislative reform of 1989 (Law 23.737), penalizing the crime of possession for personal consumption.
Twenty years later, the Corte returned to declare the unconstitutionality of the persecution of users with the law (ruling “Arriola” of 2009), returning to the precedent of “Bazterrica”.
Thirty years have passed since the highest court of the Republic has set the foundations of jurisprudence on respect for freedom, individual autonomy, privacy, and self-determination of people using prohibited substances.
Three decades without that which would advance legislative reform that would clearly prevent unconstitutional persecution of drug users, preventing their criminalization and stigmatization, despite the presentation of scores of draft legislation before the National Congress with this framework.
The debate over drug policy has advanced in quality and contains more beyond the claim by the delayed decriminalization of behaviors related to consumption, addressing matters such as harm reduction, medicinal use of controlled substances, and strategic legalization and regulation, the humanitarian treatment for people who use drugs, the proportionality of penalties and alternatives to incarceration, among others.
The “Asociación Pensamiento Penal (APP)” has redacted a document titled “the Declaration of Argentine Judges, Prosecutors and Public Defenders for Drug Policy that respects Human Rights”, which has been signed by more than 260 from around the country. There it presents the reasons for which there are recommended new approaches that lead to drug policies which are more effective and humane.
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