cracksmokingcracksmoker
Greenlighter
- Joined
- May 27, 2025
- Messages
- 22
Small amounts of hard drugs (cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin) for "immediate personal use" are technically allowed/decriminalized in many Latin American countries. In some countries, they have fixed limits on how much can be carried "for personal use", while in other countries there is no set amount; it's left to a judge to determine whether a given small amount indicates "personal use" or if it's micro trafficking.
But everywhere these small amounts are allowed, the police have wide discretion and power to detain and cast any drug end-users they find as micro traffickers, exposing them to long prison sentences for being caught with amounts for personal use. So, the laws as written protect non-trafficking drug users, but the laws as applied by the police at the street level still victimize them.
Mexico: "Cocaine, MDMA/ecstasy, heroin, methamphetamine, LSD and similar substances are prohibited under the Ley General de Salud. A 2009 reform created personal-use thresholds below which simple possession is treated as an administrative rather than criminal matter - but these are extremely small (0.5 g cocaine, 40 mg MDMA, 50 mg heroin) and do not amount to a legal right to possess. Any amount above the threshold is a federal drug offence. Police discretion and corruption mean that even amounts within the thresholds can lead to arrest, detention, and extortion. Pre-trial detention for foreigners of two or more years before a verdict is not unusual." (https://www.tripbase.com/drug-laws/mexico/controlled/)
Zero-tolerance (all recreational drugs are illegal, and possession of any amount is considered trafficking): Bolivia, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama.
A judge determines if amounts are for personal use: Argentina, Brazil (Personal possession for non-cannabis drugs is depenalized [sic] in theory (community service, not prison), but in practice amounts deemed above personal use are prosecuted as trafficking. Foreigners are prosecuted.), Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Uruguay.
Defined-threshold amounts: Colombia (one gram of cocaine, but risk of robbery and extortion), Paraguay (two grams, but a judge still decides if the amount is for personal use), and Peru (two grams, but police treat all drug possession as a crime).
But everywhere these small amounts are allowed, the police have wide discretion and power to detain and cast any drug end-users they find as micro traffickers, exposing them to long prison sentences for being caught with amounts for personal use. So, the laws as written protect non-trafficking drug users, but the laws as applied by the police at the street level still victimize them.
Mexico: "Cocaine, MDMA/ecstasy, heroin, methamphetamine, LSD and similar substances are prohibited under the Ley General de Salud. A 2009 reform created personal-use thresholds below which simple possession is treated as an administrative rather than criminal matter - but these are extremely small (0.5 g cocaine, 40 mg MDMA, 50 mg heroin) and do not amount to a legal right to possess. Any amount above the threshold is a federal drug offence. Police discretion and corruption mean that even amounts within the thresholds can lead to arrest, detention, and extortion. Pre-trial detention for foreigners of two or more years before a verdict is not unusual." (https://www.tripbase.com/drug-laws/mexico/controlled/)
Zero-tolerance (all recreational drugs are illegal, and possession of any amount is considered trafficking): Bolivia, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama.
A judge determines if amounts are for personal use: Argentina, Brazil (Personal possession for non-cannabis drugs is depenalized [sic] in theory (community service, not prison), but in practice amounts deemed above personal use are prosecuted as trafficking. Foreigners are prosecuted.), Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Uruguay.
Defined-threshold amounts: Colombia (one gram of cocaine, but risk of robbery and extortion), Paraguay (two grams, but a judge still decides if the amount is for personal use), and Peru (two grams, but police treat all drug possession as a crime).
