Beginnings of A Movement?

Last week, Mexico decriminalized possession of drugs – including marijuana, cocaine and heroin – for personal use. As the Times reports, this week, Argentina's Supreme Court followed suit in a case which prohibits incarceration for marijuana possession and seems to rule unconstitutional incarceration for the private consumption of any drug.

The court embraced a simple, powerful libertarian approach to the issue: "Each individual adult is responsible for making decisions freely about their desired lifestyle without state interference.... Private conduct is allowed unless it constitutes a real danger or causes damage to property or the rights of others.'' The Court also urged the government to adopt a public health approach to drug use.

The Argentine President has expressed support for drug law reform in the past, saying, "I don't like that an addict is condemned as if he were a criminal." It's nearly impossible to imagine an American politician talking about drugs in a way that's similarly sane. And check out how Cabinet Chief Anibal Fernandez, responded to the decision: "[S]he declared that the ruling brings an end to 'the repressive politics invented by the Nixon administration'... and later adopted by Argentina's dictators, to imprison drug users as if they were major traffickers."

It's about time Latin American countries resist their ongoing conscription in America's War on Drugs.