Argentina rules on marijuana use

[TommyPaine]

Source: BBC News - Americas

The supreme court in Argentina has ruled that it is unconstitutional to punish people for using marijuana for personal consumption.

The decision follows a case of five young men who were arrested with a few marijuana cigarettes in their pockets. But the court said use must not harm others and made it clear it did not advocate a complete decriminalisation.

The Argentine court ruled that: "Each adult is free to make lifestyle decisions without the intervention of the state." Supreme Court President Ricardo Lorenzetti said private behaviour was legal, "as long as it doesn't constitute clear danger". "The state cannot establish morality," he said.

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8221599.stm

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Unconstitutional. The state can't establish morality. Imagine those concepts.

[LynnTheDem]

1. No worries. Some day, the USA will catch up.

Pretty sure.

[TommyPaine]

3. Oh, I'm sure we will. By around 2372.

Until then we'll keep hearing patronizing stories about the vileness of things that grow naturally, and that imprisoning people is a reasonable way of dealing with something that creates no real threat to society.

I should mention that I haven't even smoked weed in over five years, so this issue isn't terribly personal.

[rd_kent]

2. Wow, commom sense. We could use some of that here.

[DeSwiss]

4. Gobsmacked!

- Is that SANITY I smell???

K&R

[Usrename]

5. What a backwater we live in.

Wonder what air fare to Argentina is.

[Cal Carpenter]

11. I think you can hike there on the Appalachian Trail

:)

[Vidar]

6. Bravo Argentina!

[eridani]

7. Hey! So cry for us, already, Argentina!

Common sense--it may be catching.

[Ex Lurker]

8. 25 years ago Argentina was a military dictatorship

now they can use marijuana if they wish, and marry whomever they choose. They're freer than we are.

[Bluenorthwest]

9. They are also, by and large, far better looking than we are

and have better steaks.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

10. And have great hiking trails that connect with Appalachia.

Sorry, I couldn't help myself.

[sofa king]

15. Really?

So I could walk out my front door to the AT and walk all the way to Argentina? And get high once I get there?

I should do that some weekend.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

16. Chances are that you'll run into the soon to be ex Governor of South Carolina

if you do that. :evilgrin:

[sofa king]

17. I can't believe that one got past me!

[slampoet]

13. And they look pretty stylish while eating better quality healthier beef than we do.

[ronnie624]

12. "But it also marks a shift

a dramatic regional shift to the decades-old US-backed policy of running repressive military-style wars on the drug trade"

That statement makes it sound like the "war on drugs" has a regional origin, and that the U.S. is just kind of helping out a little. Surely it would be more accurate to say that Latin American countries were long ago coerced into backing the U.S. "drug war" policies.

[fascisthunter]

14. I Predict that Argentina experiences much more Tourism