Colombia’s cannabis legalization bill has officially passed the country’s House of Representatives and now needs to go to the Senate to clear the final two hurdles before possibly being passed on to the President.
After a close vote last month, lawmakers took up the bill on Tuesday, approving it in the sixth of eight required debates, by a vote of 98 to 57. The bill must now go to a Senate committee, then be passed by the Senate for promulgation.
Colombia is “ready to take a step forward towards a new drug policy that abandons the failed paradigm of prohibition and paves the way for a policy guided by public health guidelines, the prevention of consumption and the guarantee citizens’ rights,” said the author of the bill, MP Juan Carlos Losada Vargas of the Liberal Party.
“We are a long way from starting to write a new history in the fight against drugs; at this stage it is a matter of political will,” he said. “Every vote is decisive. »
#HISTORICO🚨 Aprobado con 98 votos nuestro proyecto de #CannabisDeUsoAdulto in 6to debate.
Hoy @CamaraColombia Demonstrate that somos a country that quiere cambiar la fallida política prohibicionista de drugs a una basada en la prevention y la salud pública.#EsHoraDeRegular pic.twitter.com/RQhncCq2im
— Juan Carlos Losada (@JuanKarloslos) May 9, 2023
Last year, the House and Senate passed different versions of the legalization legislation, and the two bodies decided to make the bills identical in December. The Senate overwhelmingly approved its version of the bill that month, after receiving initial approval from the House.
As a constitutional amendment proposal, the proposal must go through the full legislative process in each house twice, in separate calendar years, in order to be enacted.
The legalization bill supports “the right to free personality development, allowing citizens to decide on cannabis consumption within a regulated legal framework.” And it would mitigate “arbitrary, discriminatory or unequal treatment of the population that consumes”.
It also calls for public education campaigns and the promotion of drug treatment services.
During a public hearing in the Senate last year, Justice Minister Néstor Osuna said that Colombia had been the victim of a “failed war conceived 50 years ago and which, due to a absurd prohibitionism, brought us a lot of blood, armed conflicts, mafias and crimes”.
The House of Representatives gave its initial approval to the legalization bill last year. The head of the interior ministry also came out in favor of the reform proposal at the time. The vote came shortly after a congressional committee pushed through that measure and another legalization bill.
President Gustavo Petro, a progressive who since taking office in August has vigorously advocated for an end to the criminalization of drugs internationally, spoke of the possible benefits of legalizing cannabis.
Last year, the president delivered a speech at a meeting of the United Nations (UN), urging member countries to radically change their approach to drug policy and end prohibition .
Mr. Petro also raised the possibility of legalizing cannabis in Colombia in order to reduce the influence of the illicit market. He also indicated that this change in policy should be followed by the release of those currently imprisoned for possession of cannabis.
He spoke of the economic potential of a legal cannabis industry, in which small towns in the Andes, Corinto and Miranda could benefit from legal cannabis cultivation, possibly without licensing requirements.
