Congress finally dispatched on Tuesday the bill that improves the prosecution of drug trafficking and organized crime, also known as the ley “anti-drug”, that among some of its measures, protects medical cannabis users by allowing cultivation.
The initiative had to go to a mixed commission due to the discrepancies that arose between both chambers of Congress and On Monday the report of the aforementioned commission was supported by the deputies with 87 votes in favor, 42 against and 7 abstentions.
While, this Tuesday It was the turn of the Senate where the initiative received 27 votes in favor, 14 against and 2 abstentions.
The proposal was dispatched in the first step by the Lower House in March 2021, Later, various modifications were made in the Senate., some of which were rejected and gave rise to the mixed commission, whose report was finally approved this Tuesday.
Standard allows medicinal cultivation
One of the main aspects of this regulation is that allows the cultivation of cannabis for medical treatment with the presentation of a medical prescription issued by a treating surgeon, document that must indicate the diagnosis of the disease, its treatment and duration, although it prohibits its form of administration from being through combustion, that is to say, let it be smoked.
At the same time, punished with a minor prison sentence in its minimum degree (61 a 540 days) to those who use false recipes to justify the cultivation of cannabis, penalty that will increase by one degree in the case of commercialization of the substance or provision to a third party.
Although there were indications during the processing of this project to allow self-cultivation of up to 5 cannabis plants, holding up to 500 grams and the carrying of up to 40 grams, These were ultimately rejected..
Precisely a problem that persists in the law 20.000 of drugs, despite the approval of the initiative this Tuesday, is the lack of objective parameters to determine when there is consumption, microtrafficking or drug trafficking, which criminalizes simple consumers, when Chilean legislation does not sanction consumption and considers it a simple offense.
In fact, The law establishes that the possession of cannabis and other substances will only be an offense when “justify for personal and immediate use”, which leaves it open to the discretion of a judge to decide whether an accused is a user or a trafficker.
Government announces new project
Although in this project an attempt was made to establish objective parameters to make the distinction, as the harmful potential of the drug, possession of packaged drugs and also cash, among other, The parliamentarians considered that they were not able to fulfill what was expected, since at most a conviction could be avoided, but not the entire judicial process that a drug arrest involves.
In fact, after this Tuesday's vote in the Senate, the government, in the voice of the Minister of the Interior, Carolina Tohá, committed to submit a project to precisely address parameters to determine and differentiate traffic, microtrafficking and drug consumption and thus avoid judicial processes that affect simple consumers, given that currently around 70% of those arrested by drug law are users, resulting in the expenditure of significant resources in processes in which the accused are finally declared innocent.
