A view from the panelists, on the way to the III Latin American Conference on Drug Policy

Álvaro Henry Campos Solórzano, Vice-Minister of Justice and Public Safety of El Salvador, and Robson Rodrigues Da Silva, Commander of the Peacekeeping Police Unit of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, preview some of the concepts that will be discussed at the meeting.

The Conference will take place on September 13th and 14th in the Federal District, Mexico, and alternatives to the war on drugs, a policy that has left negative consequences in the entire region, particularly in the host country, where in the last few years the violence associated with drug trafficking has claimed more than 40,000 lives, will be proposed. View the complete schedule at http://conferenciadrogas.com/2011/programa.

(Buenos Aires, September 8th 2011) Representatives of governments and United Nations committees, experts and non-governmental organizations of eleven countries will meet on September 13th and 14th at the III Latin American Conference on Drug Policy, which will take place at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Mexico City, Mexico.  Two of the participants, in individual preliminary interviews, previewed options that will be discussed at the meeting.

One of them was the Vice-Minister of Justice and Public Safety of El Salvador, Álvaro Henry Campos Solórzano, who advocated the creation of regional policies.  The El Salvadorian official assured that “the principle actions of crime repression should develop themselves against violent crimes related to drugs and recuperate the usurped territory by violent cartels and micro traffickers,” that “the policy of penal persecution should truly exclude sanctions to the consumer without affecting the efficacy of repressing drug traffickers,” and that “the therapeutic systems and other new forms of reducing trafficking contact with the consumer, diminishing the use of the most dangerous drugs, and assuring the reduction of the traffickers’ economic power should all have legal support.” The interview with Campos Solórzano can be found at http://conferenciadrogas.com/2011/prensa/entrevistas-interviews-entrevistas/alvaro-henry-campos-solorzano.

Additionally, Robson Rodrigues Da Silva, Commander of the Peacekeeping Police Unit of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, reviewed some aspects of the performance of the force that he leads and warned that “for decades we’ve opted for a more repressive focus, based in the logic of the War on Drugs, that hasn’t produced interesting results. It was a period in which there was an absurd increase in violent deaths, including policemen.” Rodrigues Da Silva, whose complete interview is available at http://conferenciadrogas.com/2011/prensa/entrevistas-interviews-entrevistas/robson-rodrigues-da-silva-robson-rodrigues-da-silva-robson-rodrigues-da-silva, called for “a strategy fundamentally based in prevention” and the realization of “social projects to prevent violence and crime.”

Graciela Touzé, president of Intercambios Civil Association of Argentina, which is organizing this conference along with CUPIHD of Mexico, explained that “it is hoped that the meeting will allow for a broad and purposeful reflection regarding topics of security and human rights, consequences of militarization, legislative reforms of the decriminalization of consumption, drugs, identities and worldviews, and alternative health treatments.”

The III Latin American and I Mexican Conference on Drug Policy will bring more than thirty panelists from eleven countries together, including: Alejandro Poiré Romero (spokesman of the Nation Security Strategy of Mexico), Álvaro Henry Campos Solórzano (Vice-Minister of Justice and Public Safety of El Salvador), Robson Rodrigues Da Silva (Commander of the Peacekeeping Police Unit of Rio de Janeiro), Mary Ann Eddowes (Peruvian Coca Leaf Association), Steven Dudley (specialist in organized crime in the Americas) y María Elena Ramos (Compañeros Program of Ciudad Juárez), among others.

Sponsoring the Conference include: Pan American Health Organization (PAHO); Drug Policy Alliance (DPA); Transnational Institute (TNI); UNESCO “Social and Economic Transformations related to the International Drug Problem” Cathedra; Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA); Center of Political Studies of the Autonomous National University of Mexico (FCPyS - UNAM); American Intervention Network in Situations of Social Suffering (RAISSS) and the Iberian-American Network of NGOs that Work with Drug Addicts (RIOD), among others.

More information: schedule, exhibitors and registration forms can be found at www.conferenciadrogas.com

Intercambios Civil Association is a key organization within Latin America in themes including harm reduction and drug policy.  It develops policy advocacy, investigation, and training with the objective of influencing governmental and multilateral drug policies.  It organized the 1^st and 2^nd Latin American Conferences on Drug Policies (Buenos Aires 2009, Río de Janeiro 2010); coordinated the discussion of civil society in the region regarding targets set by the United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on Drugs and, so far, has organized nine National Conferences on Drug Policy.  Some of its publications include “Contributions to a new drug policy.  5^th and 6^th National Conferences on Drug Policy” (2010); and “Knowledge and practice on drugs.  The case of cocaine paste base” (2007).

CUPIHD (Commission for a Comprehensive Drug Policy) is a civil society organization dedicated to research, education, action, and dissemination oriented toward transforming culture and drug policies with a focus on harm reduction and a multidisciplinary, comprehensive, scientific, and respectful focus on human rights. Formed in 2009, CuPIHD seeks to promote a constructive dialogue of drug policy reforms at the national and international levels as well as how to propose alternative drug regulation.

Press Contacts /

In Mexico: +52 (55) 5658 6518 CUPIHD

Silvia Solís (cell): +04455 1006 7647 /

prensamexico@conferenciadrogas.com / capulin2000@gmail.com /jhernandez@cupihd.org

For other countries: +54 11 4954 7272 (INTERCAMBIOS)

Horacio Torres: +54 9 11 15 6794 6315 / Romina Ruffato: +54 9 11 15 5488 4033

prensa@conferenciadrogas.com / prensa@intercambios.org.ar /Twitter: @confedrogas