Cannabis y salud pública: del bien jurídico al bien político

Abstract

The case law refers to «public health» as the legal interest in crimes related to toxic drugs, narcotics and psychotropic substances. However, such legal interest has been created on the basis of criteria which are very distant from the rights and freedoms inherent to a social and democratic State subject to the rule of law. Regarding cannabis, the reasons which motivated the inclusion of the substance in the international conventions in this field (which generated violent and criminal conducts, as well as the so-called escalation theory) cannot be maintained based on present knowledge. Even less so in the context where various States within the United States and Uruguay have applied public policies by which the prominence of Criminal Law is virtually annulled. This shows that in order to defend public health with regard to cannabis, and other substances, there are other possible policies, much more respectful of human rights and that do not cause so much suffering.