Colombian Senate rejects cannabis legalization project in final instance

Colombia's cannabis legalization project has stalled for the year, with the Colombian Senate failing to push it forward with sufficient support in Tuesday's final vote, even though a simple majority of senators present voted in favor.

The legislation, sponsored by Congressman Juan Carlos Losada, had already been approved by both chambers last year, as part of the two-year process for constitutional amendments. It was then adopted by the Chamber of Deputies in May and was examined by a Senate committee this month. Although it won a majority of votes in the Senate on Tuesday (47-43), it needed 54 to become law.

Lawmakers will therefore have to start the two-year legislative process all over again if they want to end prohibition. After the vote, Mr. Losada declared that the project's supporters «are sad, but convinced that we gave it our all until the end».

Estamos tristes, pero convencidos de que la dimos toda hasta el final. Nunca pensamos llegar tan lejos. Hoy tenemos mayorías, faltaron 7 votos.

Llevamos 4 años en esta lucha y no desfalleceremos para escribir una nueva historia en la lucha contra las drogas.

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¡Gracias! pic.twitter.com/Scu3BQW5cR

- Juan Carlos Losada (@JuanKarloslos) June 21, 2023

«We never thought it would go this far,» he said, according to a translation. «We have been fighting for four years and we will not give up to write a new history in the war on drugs.

«We're not going to give up. We're going to try as hard as we can to create a regulated cannabis market,» he added. «We will continue to fight.

Interior Minister Luis Fernando Velasco also reacted to the defeat of the bill, which he witnessed in the Senate chamber, by declaring that «the government will insist on this issue, because basically, the ban only benefits the mafias».

Senator María José Pizarro, who championed the legislation in the Senate, gave an impassioned speech last week when the measure was first introduced.

«Prohibitionist policies have increased the cost of a product which, without state control, has enriched and strengthened the criminal organizations that continue to grow and spread terror around the world,» she declared.

Hicimos todo lo posible por garantizar libertades, superar el caos jurídico de decadas, quisimos quitarle vidas y recursos a la ilegalidad. Quisimos para las comunidades, juventudes y mujeres una cotidianidad sin mafias y violencia.

A lo largo de todo el trámite por la... pic.twitter.com/mMb5DZfoVm

- María José Pizarro Rodríguez (@PizarroMariaJo) June 21, 2023

«We came to the debate exhausted, but with the peace of mind of knowing that we did everything possible to get this country to imagine different ways to deal with a problem that affects it deeply,» the senator said after Tuesday's vote, as reported by El Pais.

The project to legalize cannabis in Colombia supports «the right to free development of the personality, allowing citizens to decide on cannabis consumption within a regulated legal framework». It also mitigates «arbitrary, discriminatory or unequal treatment of the consuming population».

The text also calls for public education campaigns and the promotion of substance abuse treatment services.