Pubdate: Sun, 17 Aug 2014
Source: Daily Mail (UK)
Copyright: 2014 Associated Newspapers Ltd
Contact:  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/108
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Marijuana - Medicinal)

COLOMBIA SET TO LEGALISE MEDICAL MARIJUANA AS PRESIDENT ATTACKS
'INEFFECTIVE' DRUGS WAR

Juan Manuel Santos Approves Bill Allowing Sales of Medicinal
Cannabis

Praised Bill for Giving People Access to Medicine While Reducing
Crime

Uruguay Has Legalised Drug, With Brazil and Chile Considering Law
Change

The President of Colombia has endorsed new legislation which paves the
way for legalising medical cannabis.

Juan Manuel Santos made the announcement yesterday at a drug policy
forum in the capital Bogota.

Mr Santos called the bill 'a practical, compassionate measure to
reduce the pain (and) anxiety of patients with terminal illnesses'
while adding that it would help combat crime.

Colombia has been wracked by decades of conflict with left-wing rebels
inside the country, who are largely funded with drug money.

The nation is only the latest in a string of countries in South
America to legalise cannabis.

Uruguay has already approved sales of the drug, while Jamaica is set
to decriminalise it for religious and medicinal purposes, allowing
people to carry up to two ounces.

Colombia already allows people to legally carry half that amount, but
the new bill would remove that cap completely.

The medicinal-use bill was introduced by Sen. Juan Manuel Galan, whose
father was assassinated in 1989 by cocaine traffickers. He said other
countries such as Argentina, Brazil and Chile were considering similar
pieces of legislation.

Galan said his hope is that his bill, which would put the distribution
of medical marijuana under government control, gain final approval
next June.

Ethan Nadelmann, director of the New York-based Drug Policy Alliance,
said some U.S. states as well as countries including Israel and Canada
are already offering legal medical marijuana, and that a bill was
introduced last week in the Central American nation of Costa Rica.
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MAP posted-by: Matt