As a consequence of the Great Depression in 1929 in the United States, the so-called Volstead Act, which prohibited the consumption of alcohol, was repealed.
The collapse of the country’s income and the need for both state and federal governments to obtain money led to the lifting of this restriction to increase revenue in a straightforward manner.
Nearly 90 years later, we face the debate on the use of cannabis (medicinal or recreational) and the possibilities that the legalization of its production and commercialization holds for increasing revenue in countries that approve its consumption.
Among various nuances, one cannot overlook the discourse on the impact of the consumption of these substances on society and the health of individuals. It is worth mentioning that much of this discourse is biased more by moralistic views than scientific evidence.
According to the Institute on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (IAFA), the third most consumed drug in the country is marijuana, preceded by tobacco and alcohol in the first place. From 2010 to the present, marijuana consumption has increased from 2% to 3.2%, placing the country in sixth place in Latin America in the consumption of this psychotropic substance.
Law 8204 (on narcotics, psychotropic substances, unauthorized drugs, related activities, money laundering, and financing of terrorism) authorizes, through its second article, trade, sale, industrialization, manufacturing, extraction, analysis, import, export, transportation, cultivation, distribution, and sale for medical treatment. However, to date, the Ministry of Health has not issued the relevant regulations to adequately address and generate legal mechanisms for treating patients with duly approved and alternative medications that can improve their health and quality of life.
In addition, the current regulations do not penalize the consumption of such substances for medical or recreational use, and recently the Constitutional Court declared that personal cultivation for personal use is not a crime and is consistent with the current National Drug Plan.
It is important for the country to define specific guidelines so that thousands of patients can obtain therapeutic treatment that provides them with a better quality of life before addressing the debate on recreational use. The lack of specific regulation in the latter scenario has a greater impact on public health, as, in addition to the high figures of criminality and violence associated with drug trafficking, the consumption of substances without proper control prevents consumers from having information or guarantees about what they are consuming.
Given the impact of the pandemic, the State has a significant economic opportunity to generate new income and create new job opportunities. It is imperative to regulate the consumption of medicinal and recreational cannabis to reduce the impact of the latter as a public health problem and thus eliminate the footprint of violence associated with the illegal trafficking of these substances resulting from prohibition.