콜롬비아에서 의료 및 과학 연구용 마리화나(대마초 )의 재배와 판매가 합법화됐다고 외신이 22일(현지시간) 전했다.
후안 마누엘 산토스 콜롬비아 대통령은 마리화나 등 마약의 불법적 유통과 사용 에 따른 국민 건강의 악화를 막기위해 이러한 내용을 담은 포고령에 서명했다고 TV 연설을 통해 밝혔다.
산토스 대통령은 "마리화나를 다루기위해 면허를 받아야 하며, 의료 또는 과학 연구 목적으로만 마리화나를 재배할 수 있도록 하는 내용의 포고에 서명했다"며 "콜 롬비아가 마약과의 전쟁에서 선두에 설 수 있도록 한 중요한 조치"라고 말했다.
이로써 콜롬비아는 마약 사용에 관한 정책전환의 일환으로 시험적으로 마리화나 소지와 재배, 흡연을 부분 합법화해온 멕시코와 칠레 등의 대열에 합류했다고 외신 은 평가했다. (연합)
<관련 영문 기사>
Colombia legalizes medical marijuana
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos signed a decree Tuesday legalizing and regulating medical marijuana, the latest softening of the country’s hardline tactics in the war on drugs.
In a nationally televised address, Santos announced it would be fully legal to grow, process, import and export cannabis and its derivatives for medical and scientific use.
“This decree allows licenses to be granted for the possession of seeds, cannabis plants and marijuana,” he said from the presidential palace.
“It places Colombia in the group of countries that are at the forefront... in the use of natural resources to fight disease.”
He added that the measure “does not go against our international commitments on drug control.”
Colombia’s government has long been a close ally of the United States in fighting international drug trafficking, using its military and billions of dollars in US funding to try to shed its title as the world’s largest cocaine producer.
But it has shown signs of easing its hardline stance in recent months.
Santos’s announcement follows a recent decision to stop aerially spraying the herbicide glyphosate on fields of coca, the raw ingredient for cocaine.
The World Health Organization warned in April that the chemical, sold by US biotech company Monsanto under the brand name Roundup, is “probably carcinogenic.”
Santos also announced in September that Colombia would begin giving land to farmers who stop growing coca.
Medical marijuana had previously fallen into a legal gray area in Colombia.
It was authorized under a 1986 law, but the lack of regulation prevented production on a national level.
“The manufacture, export, sale, and medical and scientific use of this and other substances have been permitted for several decades in Colombia. However, they were never regulated. That is what we are doing today,” Santos said.
Under the decree, growers will apply for licenses from the National Narcotics Council, while those seeking to manufacture cannabis-based drugs will apply for permits from the health ministry.
The health ministry will also grant permits to export such drugs to countries where they are legal.
“Our goal is for patients to be able to access medications made in Colombia that are safe, high-quality and accessible. It is also an opportunity to promote scientific research in our country,” Santos said.
The push to legalize marijuana appears to be gaining momentum in Latin America, for both medical and recreational use.
Uruguay legalized the production, sale and use of marijuana in 2013, Chile’s Congress is debating a bill to legalize pot, and Mexico will open a “national debate” in January on overhauling its prohibitionist marijuana laws.
Colombia decriminalized possession of up to 20 grams of marijuana in 2012, and it is legal to grow up to 20 cannabis plants in the country. But consuming it in public and selling it are illegal.
Medical marijuana is already used in Colombia on a small scale.
For example, some epileptics use cannabis extract to control their seizures.
But health professionals and pharmaceutical companies say the new decree will make it much easier to buy, sell and manufacture such drugs.
Illegal drugs have given rise to horrific violence by drug cartels in Colombia, and have fueled a five-decade conflict between leftist guerrillas and the Colombian government that has killed more than 220,000 people.
The country has received $9 billion in US funding since 1999 under “Plan Colombia,” a military and economic cooperation program aimed at combating drug trafficking.
But it remains a top producer of illegal drugs, particularly cocaine.
Colombia’s cocaine production surged by 52 percent last year, to 442 tons, according to the United Nations. (AFP)
