Experts from 11 countries will meet in Mexico to debate alternatives to the war on drugs.

On the 13th and 14^th of September in Mexico City, as part of the Third Latin American and First Mexican Conference on Drug Policy. With the recent Casino in Monterrey bombing, the meeting is expected to allow a broad and purposeful reflection.
Sponsored by the Pan American Health Organization, and organized by CUPIDH exchanges in Mexico and Argentina.

(Buenos Aires, September 5, 2011)

Government and United Nations officials, experts and NGOs from eleven countries will meet on  the 13^th and 14th  of September at the Third Latin American Conference on Drug Policy, which be held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel of Mexico City, to discuss methods of curbing violence as well  as  responsive methods to the consequences of the war on drugs. It is the largest and most important meeting on the topic of drug policy, this year held in Mexico, to call international attention to the situation in the country.

“The attack on Aug. 25 at Casino Royale in Monterrey, which killed 52 people, represents the latest episode in a war without clear objectives, but with real victims,” ​​said Jorge Hernández Tinajero, director of the Colectivo por una política integral hacia las drogas (CUPIHD), (CUPIHD),  local co-organizer of the Third Latin American Conference on Drug Policy.

Since 1971, when then U.S. President Richard Nixon launched the “War on Drugs,” the production and consumption of illegal substances has increased, as well as the  drug-related violence. According to the Mexican Monitoring Center of Internal Displacement, since the start of the militarization, five years ago by President Felipe Calderon, there are over 40,000 dead and 230,000 displaced. Furthermore, the number of homicides related drugs has increased: from 5207 in 2008 to 15,273 last year.

Hernández Tinajero  affirmed: “The power of the gangs in Mexico has expanded from the drug trade to other activities such as extortion, kidnapping, piracy and trafficking in various forms, abusing the broken social structure, plagued  by social inequality, lack of opportunities and the abandonment of key state institutions such as those relating to education and social development. ”

The meeting is expected to allow a broad and purposeful discussion on security and human rights consequences of militarization, legislative reform to decriminalize the consumption, drugs, identity in  worldviews, and alternative health treatments.

The Third Latin American Conference and First Mexican Conference on Drug Policy will bring together more than thirty speakers from eleven countries, including: Alejandro Poire Romero (spokesman for the National Security Strategy of Mexico), Alvaro Henry Campos Solorzano (Deputy Minister of Justice and Security  of Salvador), Robson Rodrigues da Silva (Unit Pacification Police of Rio de Janeiro), Mary Ann Eddowes (Peruvian Association of the Coca Leaf), Steven Dudley (specialist in organized crime in the Americas) and Maria Elena Ramos ( Program Partners of Ciudad Juarez), among many  others.
In 2010,The Second Conference, held in Rio de Janeiro,  was attended by over four hundred people. This year,  the Conference is sponsored by : Pan American Health Organization (PAHO),The Drug Policy Alliance (DPA),  The Transnational Institute (TNI),  The head of the UNESCO Social and Economic Transformations connected with the International Drug problem, The Latin American Office of  Washington (WOLA),  The Centre for Political Studies of the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (FCPyS - UNAM),  Red Americana de Intervención en Situaciones de Sufrimiento Social (RAISSS) and  the American Network of NGOs working with  Addictions (RIOD), among others .

For more information: the program, exhibitors and registration forms acan be found on our website:

www.conferenciadrogas.com
Intercambios Asociación Civil is a key organization in Latin America which works with issues of damage control  and drug policy. The association develops  strategys of advocacy, research and training. They organized the First and Second Latin American Conferences (Buenos Aires 2009, Rio de Janeiro 2010) and coordinated regional discussions of civil society on the goals set by the Special Session of the UN General Assembly on Drugs (UNGASS). The publications of the Association include: “Contributions to a new drug policy. V and VI National Conference on Drug Policy “(2010) and ” Knowledge and practices on drugs. The case of cocaine based paste” (2007).
CUPIHD ( Colectivo por una política integral hacia las drogas)) is a civil society organization dedicated to research, education,  and diffusion aimed at transforming the culture of  drug policy with a focus on risk reduction, multidisciplinary, comprehensive, scientific and  human rights. Formed in 2009, CUPIHD  seeks  to promote constructive dialogue nationally and internationally as related to drug policy reform and propose regulatory alternatives to them.

Press Contacts

In Mexico: +52 (55) 5658 6518 CUPIHD
Silvia Solis (cell): +04455 1006 7647 /
prensamexico@conferenciadrogas.com / capulin2000@gmail.com / jhernandez@cupihd.org
For all other countries: +54 11 4954 7272 (Exchange)
Horacio Torres: +54 9 11 15 6794 6315 / Romina Ruffato: +54 9 11 15 5488 4033