INTERVIEW: Luiz Paulo Guanabara of Psicotripicus

Anti-prohibitionism or drug legalization defense? In the present interview of th "Activism and Drug Policy" series, psychologist Luiz Paulo Guanabara, Psicotripicus' executive director, talks about the difference between going against a policy and proposing alternatives to it. For five years at the institution's helm - which also has a board composed of doctors, social scientists, psychologists, and philosophers, Guanabara advocates drug legalization as a peace strategy and makes it clear: "Marijuana should be sold on the fair. Plants should be sold on fairs". Which are Psicotropicus' actions when it comes to changing Brazil's drug policy? We have already made two campaigns (2004 and 2005) and we also work with harm reduction, a project called Hepatitis on a Straw. For that we have made a research to better know who are the sniffed cocaine users, and we presented the research results on the International Conference. We release institutional material, promote debates, we always give our support and help organize the Marijuana March. How do you relate drug legalization and peace from the human rights angle? When you ban a product or products for which there is a strong population demand, you generate, as with Alcohol Prohibition, a parallel market whose profits are astronomic. That parallel market gets richer and richer, more powerful and harder to stop. And how's the health approach? If anybody has a real problem with drugs, he should be treated by doctors and psychologists. That person shouldn't be treated by the police or by a judge. One of prohibition's evils is the discrimination against drug users at healthcare services or the very fear of telling that one uses drugs. That can harm treatment for anything, because it's a vital information for the doctor, for instance. That makes healthcare less accessible for drug users. Psicotropicus used to advocate anti-prohibitionism when it began operating. Today the organization's motto is Legalization and Peace. What's the difference between one and the other? To be an anti-prohibitionist is to go against something, while to advocate legalization is more propositional. We want to look for ways for drug reform and reforms in legislation. And the peace is because we experience a globa war on drugs and against drug users, and we want to change that situation. Today, after five years' Psicotropicus, my view of what should be done more objectively is that one should work for alterations in UN papers, which govern the global drug control system. To work on the level of change for honest information, not the one produced by the North-American [that's how we call "Americans", Mr. Borden; you must have noted I use "estadounidense" (ES) or "estadunidense" (PT) frequently; you are not the only Americans on the Americas] government since the 1920s, which is hypocritical. The US are the most liable for drug situation in today's world, for prohibitionist policy, which is a failure from the point of view of public health and human right violations. The organization supports the Marijuana March. What is its relevance for the drug debate? Among the forbidden drugs, marijuana is a special case. It has a huge economic potential, industrial, nutritional and pharmaceutical properties, and it causes an effect on the brain. And marijuana is not a cause for overdosis, it's difficult to find someone committed - which is an extreme measure - or in a Narcotics Anonymous meeting because of marijuana. So marijuana is a particular substance on that motley crue of substances where people put drugs illicit today. Marijuana should be sold on the fair. Plants have to be sold on fairs. [...] [Read the full interview in Portuguese at http://www.comunidadesegura.org/?q=pt/node/39126 online.]