Legalization of cannabis is an irreversible trend in the world, says Pedro Abramovay.

247 - The war on drugs, led by the United States, caused violence and thousands of deaths in Latin America, while today many US states have legalized the recreational use of cannabis. In the US itself, cannabis legalization has generated economic benefits, although often excluding poor and Black communities that previously dominated the illegal trade.

This was the analysis made by the vice president of programs at the Open Society Foundations, Pedro Abramovay, during the panel "International Experiences," during the event "National Drug Policy: A New Paradigm." The conference was held by... Brazil 247, TV 247 e Counsel, with support from the Prerogativas group, last Tuesday (18), in Brasília (DF).

Abramovay criticized the delay in the Supreme Court's decision to decriminalize cannabis possession, a decade after many other countries. "The Supreme Court's decision is very welcome, but it feels almost like a welcome back to the past. By decriminalizing personal possession, we are 10 years behind South America and most democracies in the world, including Europe," he stated. 

He highlighted that in several democracies around the world, this is already a consolidated and widely accepted issue. "In the US, there was also strong rejection, as there is in Brazil, of legalization. In a matter of 5 to 10 years, it was seen that consumption did not increase, especially among young people. In other older age groups, consumption even increased slightly in certain states. Today, even Donald Trump is in favor, because it is a topic of general approval in the country," he said. 

"In the US and other parts of the world, where there has been liberalization and legalization of drugs, there has been no going back. In Uruguay, both left-wing and right-wing governments came and went, and this didn't change. It didn't change in the US either. These policies have been incorporated because they face the reality of ending the irrationality of a repressive policy," he stated. 

"In the vast majority of cases, the effect on people and public opinion from making this decision is far more positive than negative," said Abramovay, mentioning the need to combat the logic of the war on drugs and deconstruct the... fake news related to the topic. 

He also warned against a drug liberalization process "that generates economic benefits but ends up excluding the poor and black communities that previously dominated the illegal trade."

"It cannot be a process of economic benefits controlled by large groups, taking away trade from less fortunate people," he stated.

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