"Leave everything as it is": A comparative analysis of proposals for the prohibition and decriminalization of drugs and the emergence of conciliatory inertia

Abstract

We are trying to describe the growing existence of a new official matrix in the criminal drug policy in the American continent, which will be called "policy of conciliatory inertia". It breaks with the binary debate between prohibition and non-prohibition which has contained the legislative, political and doctrinal alternatives, until the date. To do this, we started with a brief re-delimitation of anti-punitivist concepts, such as decriminalization, compared to the concept of de-prohibition. Then, we made a critical comparison based on the theoretical documents and the evaluation of their criminal policies, in order to establish the analytical flaws in both parts of the binarism and, thereby, explain how the policy of conciliatory inertia was nested. Subsequently, we describe the public emergence of a fourth stage of drug policies on the continent, expressed in the speeches of prominent leaders on the subject of narcotics. We also estimate its effects on public policies matters.