La diferencia entre legalización y descriminalización

Muchas personas utilizan erróneamente los términos ‛legalización’ y ‛descriminalización’, como si fueran sinónimos. ¿Cuál es la diferencia entre ellos? Más información, en inglés, está disponible abajo.

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The war on cannabis seems to be slowly burning out. On June 12th Jamaica announced that it plans to decriminalise possession of small amounts of the drug. Several countries, including Mexico and Portugal, have already taken this step, and many others are considering it: last week the West Africa Commission on Drugs, appointed by the Kofi Annan Foundation, published a report arguing that minor drug offences should be decriminalised.Meanwhile, a handful of other jurisdictions—so far only Uruguay and the states of Colorado and Washington—have taken a different approach, not decriminalising but instead legalising cannabis.

Many people mistakenly use the terms “legalisation” and “decriminalisation” interchangeably. What is the difference?

The illegal drug business causes damage on two fronts. Firstly, the drugs themselves do physical harm to at least some of the people who take them, mainly in the rich world but increasingly in new markets (Brazil is now the world’s biggest consumer of crack cocaine, for instance). Secondly, the trade enriches criminal gangs, which spread corruption and murder from Sydney to São Paulo. For a long time nearly every government thought that the best way to reduce both types of harm was to mete out harsh penalties to those who bought and sold drugs. But after several decades of that approach, with little to show for it, some are turning to alternative tactics.

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