Colombia's government plans to legalize the cultivation and sale of marijuana for medicinal and scientific purposes, officials said Thursday in a surprise shift by the longtime USA ally in the war on drugs.
Colombia follows the lead of other Latin American countries such as Mexico, Chile, and Uruguay, who have all attempted to introduce policies to partially decriminalize or legalize marijuana within their borders, with varying degrees of success.
Despite the move being perceived by proponents and critics alike as a sign of the government's shifting attitudes toward marijuana use and legalization, Reyes was firm that recreational use of the drug is still out of the question.
Juan Manuel Galan, the sponsor of the bill seeking the legalization of medical marijuana, said that "the regulation must proceed the legal way, which is what will give the judicial security and stability to a regulatory framework of medicinal and therapeutic consumption".
Colombians for two decades have been allowed to possess small quantities of any narcotic for personal use thanks to a series of Constitutional Court rulings guaranteeing the "free development of one's personality".
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Colombia To Legalize Sale of Medical Marijuana
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