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Background: In Colombia, a person caught in possession of an illicit substance is not judicially sanctioned as long as the quantity does not exceed the maximum allowable amounts. Given that the public is divided on the appropriateness of this policy, an examination of the various public positions was undertaken.Method: A convenience sample of 302 adults were presented with 48 vignettes depicting a situation of everyday life easily recognizable by all in Colombia; that of a male person who is apprehended in the street by the police because he is suspected of illicit trafficking. These vignettes were created by orthogonal variation of four factors: Type of substance, amount of substance, type of charge against the offender, and offender's age.Results: Through cluster analysis, six qualitatively different positions were found. These positions corresponded to three distinct, classical philosophies (a) a libertarian, free-market philosophy - punishment should never be extremely severe because the trade in psychotropic substances is a trade like any other (6%), (b) a moralistic, conservative philosophy - punishment should always be extremely severe except perhaps in certain cases (52%), and (c) a progressive, human rights-inspired philosophy - punishment should always be proportional to the seriousness of the facts (42%).Conclusion: Half of Colombian people supported a control policy according to which the use of psychotropic substances is considered profoundly immoral. Most of the other segment of the population express views similar to those of international organizations. It is therefore desirable that legislators rely on progressive international legislation to support domestic policies that are not strictly moralistic and conservative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a Member State of the UN and the EU, Spain's drug policy is heavily conditioned by these external superior ‘legal personalities’. Although, the Spanish legislature has enacted amendments to legislation on illicit substances over the last ten years to attenuate excessively punitive law, their interpretation and internal application of conventions on drug legislation has by in large overlooked the ultima ratio principle i.e. minimum intervention (Arana 2012). Spain’s criminal legislation is presented as well as the consequences of the prohibition of illicit substances in this jurisdiction. Finally, alternatives that have emerged in the Basque Autonomous Community to counter the effects of its criminalisation are briefly discussed and promoted as a means of abating external legal constraints that have serious social and legal ramifications. Como miembro de ONU y UE, la política de drogas española está fuertemente condicionada por la legislación emanada de estas entidades jurídicas. A pesar de eso, los legisladores españoles han introducido reformas en la legislación sobre sustancias ilícitas en los últimos diez años para atenuar una legislación excesivamente punitiva, su interpretación y aplicación interna de convenios sobre legislación en materia de drogas en gran parte no toma en cuenta el principio del ultimo ratio (Arana 2012). Se presenta la legislación penal española en materia de sustancias ilícitas y también los efectos que ésta tiene sobre la jurisdicción. Finalmente, las alternativas surgidas en la Comunidad Autónoma Vasca para contrarrestar los efectos de la criminalización, son brevemente discutidas y promovidas como una manera para amainar las limitaciones jurídicas que tienen importantes y serias ramificaciones sociales y legales. DOWNLOAD THIS PAPER FROM SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2200886