Shift in Latin America's Approach to Drugs - From Security to Health Issue Louisa Reynolds - Inter Press Service
go to original June 7, 2013

ANTIGUA, Guatemala - The drug problem should be tackled not as a security issue but as a public health question, with policies for “prevention, treatment and rehabilitation,” delegations from the 34 countries participating in the 43rd General Assembly of the Organization of American States agreed.

The meeting, which opened Tuesday Jun. 4 in the colonial Guatemalan city of Antigua, on the theme “For a Comprehensive Policy against the World Drug Problem in the Americas,” and to conclude Thursday Jun. 6 with a final declaration that, it is hoped, will express a consensus position on the most viable strategies to fight drug trafficking in the region.

However, in spite of agreement that the issue should be addressed from a public health standpoint instead of the law enforcement approach used in most countries in the region today, the draft Antigua Declaration of the General Assembly of the OAS does not include concrete actions, or even a vague road map for the future.

... Fourteen countries are proposing that the OAS Permanent Council call an extraordinary General Assembly in 2014 in Guatemala, with the goal of moving forward in the debate on new strategies to combat drug trafficking and in the design of an action plan for the period 2016-2020.

Read the rest at Inter Press Service

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