Today José Miguel Insulza, the Secretary General of the Organisation of American States (OAS), has presented a report to the heads of state that looks at a number of drug policy scenarios for the Americas going up to 2025. These include regulated markets in drugs starting with cannabis. This is the highest level that discussion of potential change towards a regulated market in currently illicit drugs.

Launching the report the Secretary General said

“Also, it is important to recognize that there is an on-going debate about the legalization or de-penalization of marijuana with initiatives underway in some of our countries”

The report remarks on 'Caribbean countries with a long tradition of social acceptance

of cannabis'. This is radically honest look at drug policy issues.

The secretary General in his speech also said that 'if one accepts the fundamental notion that drug use is not a criminal act, then users should not be subject to punishment'.

It is good there is a strong focus on potential ‘alternatives to Incarceration for Drug-Dependent Offenders’ and other more evidence based approaches to drug dependency that are more in line with a human rights centred approach. 'if one accepts the fundamental notion that drug use is not a criminal act, then users should not be subject to punishment'

David Holiday, Senior Regional Advocacy Officer for the Open Society Latin America Program, said, “This is the beginning of an international conversation on a new approach to drugs. We can hope this will move policies from those currently based in repression to strategies rooted in public health and human rights.”

The report identifies the strengths, weaknesses and challenges of drug control policies in the region. They have spent $2.25 million investigating the damage that the war on drugs has caused, so it’s not surprising that the report is well thought-through.

OAS encompasses all 35 of the sovereign states in North, South and Central America, and the Caribbean. Its self-stated purpose is to promote peace and justice in the Americas, and to help the countries work together while remaining independent. In April 2012, a gathering of America’s heads of state tasked the OAS with preparing materials for a debate on the negative consequences of the war on drugs and the possibility of other approaches. This was pushed in particular by Juan Manuel Santos, the President of Colombia. Later that year, in November, after the residents of Colorado and Washington voted to legalise marijuana, the Presidents of Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica and Honduras came together to press the need for a new look at drug policy. And the Uruguayan government plans to legalise cannabis, albeit with the government as the only legal seller. With many people hearing the rumblings of reform, there has been a lot of excitement about the OAS’s conclusions.

“The review explores what can be done in a post-drug war world,” said Kasia Malinowska-Sempruch, Director of the Open Society Global Drug Policy Program. “This report envisions a number of possibilities that will broaden the current debate on drug policy reform.”

You can read the report here.