By Susana Lima
The retired general proposal on the legalization of drugs immediately get up controversy among the countries of the region and the nation reporting the largest consumption of it worldwide, the United States.
Otto Perez has insisted that there is only the launching of the idea to treat it in dialogue, but the U.S. government needed less than 24 hours to completely oppose the idea.
The position of president to have an "open mind" about the legalization of drugs has led to many opinions and has been criticized as contradictory compare to his offer during the election campaign to impose "hard hand"; idea was always directed by Guatemalans to the height of violence and crime and control drug trafficking and its consequences.
Most Guatemalans only get to analyze the issue from a very conservative and closed point of view. There are many aspects to consider when talking about "drugs". They should start analyzing from the type of drugs to be legalized to whether legalize not only consumption but also production, transportation, trade, personnel carrying, etc..
Like any risky step, have its benefits and its harms. They talk about the risk of causing consumption in children and adolescents, but the decriminalization of drugs will not do more than that, just take off its illegality, it is up to parents to instill in their children about what is good or harmful to their health, legalizing it will not encourage young people to consume. At present there are already children and young people who use drugs without this being legal. The illegality of it makes it easier to get it, otherwise they would have to go through several regulations for it, not just having the proper age, but also transporting to the place where they can get it, not to mention the price that different drugs would reach by acquiring marketing-related taxes.
This leads to the greatest benefit: their use would be regulated because, by not having any type of tax is relatively "cheap" for ordinary people. But if its price is more expensive and they get a more controlled purchase, consumers would not stop buying it, but they would definitely not consume it as frequently as before.
The person using drugs knows how far their limits go and known what happens if they pass that limit, they know what daily tasks can be performed and which would become difficult and is in the consciousness of each to know this limit and not exceeded it in order not to risk their own life and that of others.
Moreover, the benefits of it not only be quantified in profits for consumption, only the marijuana plant produces many alternative products with which governments can give work to thousands of people in Latin America and market these products, taking direct support from the State, who should regulate and distribute the profits equally. Hemp alone removed from the marijuana plant can produce raw material for textiles, paper, food, medicines, oils, among others. Material that can supply the production of plastics, saving greatly pollution currently being suffer by our planet, it can also supply logging and other benefits cover broad areas, not just environmental, but also in medicine, both for men and animals.
Out of the benefit that this drug can specifically provide, we can mention the income benefit that the marketing of other drugs would leave to the state. If at the end of the process, the consumer does not care how much death the product they are buying has left behind, if they want to get high, they will get it done either legally or illegally. That's why the fight against drug trafficking is totally useless, because once the demand keep growing, traffickers will do everything possible to satisfy it. It is then up to the governments to regulate the consumption of its inhabitants. Consumers of alcohol and snuff are still struggling with their addictions, even though alcohol also has medicinal uses, is also a drug that is consumed from the richest to the poorest in its different presentations. It is the abuse of substances which causes chaos.
While it is true that Guatemala is not the most affected nation by the war on drugs, it is an important link in the operational chain of drug trafficking.
The early U.S. response to the initiative of President Molina, only shows that the fight against drug trafficking is nothing but a farce. Their "war" is merely an instrument of domination of the masses, especially the Latin American population as wells as the so-called war against terrorism in the Middle East that the end up being just another strategy to blatantly steal oil from these countries.
No doubt legalization will take several years of negotiation and should take several aspects into account to achieve it. Surely several entities would pronounce themselves in favor and others to disagree but putting the issue on the table for discussion is a great advance to achieve a breakthrough to end the suffering caused by drug trafficking in countries of the region.
The unity of the Latin American countries is the key to ending the hypocritical confrontation of the United States against drugs, as well as Salvadoran President said, if the U.S. does not take action to control their consumption, very little can we do against drug trafficking
