Xanthippa's Chamberpot

Perhaps it is not a giant leap, but a tiny – yet important – step for Columbia:

‘The Colombian House of Representatives Wednesday passed the first draft of a bill that seeks to legalize illicit crops.’

…

‘Representative Hugo Velasquez Jaramillo, who proposed the bill, explained that although the cultivation of plants would be legal under the new legislation, the processing and trafficking of drugs would remain subject to criminal sentencing.’

It would be unreasonable to expect Columbia to go further than this – for now.  The fear of US reaction to even this must be felt…

But, letting the highly destructive US-led prohibitionism dictate the drug policy of many countries has only had disastrous consequences.

Not only is prohibitionism anti-freedom (in a very real sense, it claims greater property right over the citizen’s own body for The State than the citizen’s own claim to self-ownership), it enriches and strengthens organized crime.  In some countries, this undermines governance to such a degree that civil liberties cannot be exercised at all!

Obviously, it is in no-one’s interest (except, of course, the organized crime groups and the ever-more-militarized police forces which grow to combat them) to continue with drug prohibition:  the evidence is there for all to see.  Still, I doubt that most people are willing to look…

But, let’s not spoil the moment:  Columbia has taken a step in the right direction.  Let’s hope more countries follow – and that this is just a small step in a long march towards eventually abolishing all drug laws!