January 15, 2003
Please Distribute Widely
Dear Colleague,
The new participatory journalism model of Narco News is soon to emerge
from the lab. Meanwhile, here's some breaking news from our beat, that
I've posted as an entry on my weblog:
Venezuela Decriminalizes Drug Possession
http://www.bigleftoutside.com/archives/000313.phpToday's neo-libertarians, if they truly believe what they claim to
believe
about freedom, really need to take a second look at Venezuela and it's
president Hugo Chávez.
The democratically-elected government of Venezuela has survived
attempted
coups - military, economic, and mediatic - and keeps moving forward with
the most sweeping reforms and advances in democracy and human rights in
the hemisphere today.
The latest: a reform of the penal code that, while increasing penalties
for drug traffickers like every other country, has just decriminalized
possession. According to the oligarch's daily El Universal, which leads
its report in a panic over the reform's simultaneous legalization of
abortion and euthanasia, here's what the new law does for drug users:
"As personal dose for consumption, the (allowable) quantity of the drug
substance is extended to that which is necessary for average individual
consumption for no more than five days; and as a provisional dose, the
quantity of the substance that is employed for average individual
consumption (according to forensics experts) for no more than ten days."
In sum, the drug addict or user no longer faces prison or penalty in
Venezuela if he possesses small amounts of his drug of choice
(specifically mentioned by the law are marijuana, hashish, cocaine and
its
derivatives, opium and its derivatives, and synthetic drugs).
This is truly revolutionary. How and why did it happen? This giant step
for drug policy reform and human freedom in this hemisphere happened
because Venezuelan democracy was defended and US-backed coups were
defeated. This historic development is a discrediting knockout blow to
all
the hysterical accusers who claimed that the government of Hugo Chávez
would somehow become "authoritarian" simply because he and the
Venezuelan
majority don't agree that "the market" should govern their land.
The vestiges of McCarthyism or "Fear of a Red Planet" appeared in recent
years even from some quarters that claim they want to liberalize drug
laws. Our own newspaper, Narco News, took heat and sustained hard hits
over the past two years in particular for our strong defense of
Venezuelan
democracy. "But that has nothing to do with drug policy," the fearful
voices accused.
Today, you can see the whole truth, kind reader. Fear no more. In
January
2004, Venezuela decriminalized the drug user and the small doses he
possesses. And if the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela sustains the
inevitable backlash from Washington that will now come for daring to
exercise its democratic will to increase human freedom, you will soon
see
other Latin American nations follow suit. Ecuador had already done it
quietly (reported only by Narco News -
http://www.narconews.com/Issue29/article703.html ), but Venezuela's
action, because of the size and influence of the country and its economy,
and the context of its role in the current American drama, now provides
cover for Brazil, Argentina, and the rest of the continent to do the
same.
To those of you who wisely understood this connection between defending
democracy in Latin America and reforming the insane war on drugs, and
who
raised your voices across the world to prevent the coups d'etat, this is
your victory, too. Congratulations, remain vigilant, apply for your
copublisher account to amplify your voice across the continents, and
onward...
From somewhere in a country called América,
Al Giordano
Publisher
The Narco News Bulletin
http://www.narconews.com/narconews@hotmail.com
Narco News is supported by:
The Fund for Authentic Journalism
P.O. Box 71051
Madison Heights, MI 48071 USA
http://www.authenticjournalism.org
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