April 23, 2008 2:53PM 

# Argentina Decriminalizes Drug Consumption 

By [Juan Carlos Hidalgo](https://www.cato.org/people/juan-carlos-hidalgo) 

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This just in… A federal court in Argentina [has decriminalized the personal consumption of drugs](http://www.elfinanciero.com.mx/ElFinanciero/Portal/cfpages/contentmgr.cfm?docId=116949&docTipo=1&orderby=docid&sortby=ASC) in that country. According to the court’s ruling, punishing drug users only “creates an avalanche of cases targeting consumers without climbing up in the ladder of \[drug\] trafficking.”

Last month at a UN meeting in Vienna, Argentina’s Minister of Justice, Aníbal Fernández, said that the policy of punishing drug consumers was a “total failure.”

Finally one piece of good news from Argentina.

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