Lawmakers in the Philippines are being urged by the UN Special Rapporteurs on extrajudicial executions and torture* to reject a proposed Death Penalty Bill which is under consideration in Manila.

The proposed “Death Penalty Bill” which would reintroduce capital punishment for drug-related offences, defined in the text as “heinous crimes”, would replace the Republic Act which prohibits the imposition of capital punishment in the Philippines.

The measure was approved by the House of Representatives on 7 March and has now moved to the Senate for approval. Discussions there have been suspended at sub-Committee level to allow for consideration of the Philippines’ international legal obligations.

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UN experts urge Filipino legislators to reject death penalty bill

Argentina gave final legislative approval on Wednesday to a bill legalizing cannabis oil for medicinal use and permitting the federal government to grow marijuana for research and therapeutic purposes.

The measure will become law once it is signed by President Mauricio Macri, whose Cambiemos party sponsored the bill.

"Thirty percent of epileptics do not respond to traditional medicine," medical doctor Ana María García Nicora, who heads the Medical Cannabis Argentina group, told local television after the Senate's final vote on the measure.

"My daughter has had epilepsy for 24 years and this is an option for her," she said.

Chile and Colombia have adopted similar laws and neighboring Uruguay has gone as far as to legalize smoking marijuana, seeking to wrest the business from criminals in the small South American nation.

A bill approving the use of cannabis oil is pending in Peru's Congress. In January, healthcare regulators in Brazil issued the country's first license for sale of an oral spray derived from marijuana used to treat multiple sclerosis.

Argentina lawmakers approve cannabis oil for medicinal use

Other than a wall at the border with Mexico, Donald Trump promised little to address drug trafficking in the Americas during last year’s U.S. presidential campaign. Two months into his presidency, it is clear that the Trump administration’s disengaged and military-first approach to the drug trade could bring more volatility to the region.

On March 13, the White House released “America First: A Budget Blueprint to Make America Great Again,” which raises more questions and concerns than solutions on many issues, including the drug trade. It notably recommends a $54 billion increase in military spending, proposes reduced funding to the “UN and affiliated agencies,” and requests a $10.1 billion budget cut for the Department of State and USAID—a 28 percent decrease from current levels. In his introductory message to Congress, Trump declared that, “It is time to prioritize the security and well-being of Americans, and to ask the rest of the world to step up and pay its fair share.”

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UN experts urge Filipino legislators to reject death penalty bill

Argentina lawmakers approve cannabis oil for medicinal use

What does the Trump era mean for drug policy in Latin America?