Is marijuana decriminalization possible in the Middle East?
On Jan. 1, Tunisian police reportedly arrested four people in Tunis with marijuana in their car. Their arrests came almost exactly one year after Tunisia’s justice minister said the country was facing a crisis in its prison system, exacerbated in large part by the country’s harsh drug laws. These two events — and efforts to remove penalties for marijuana use — illustrate both the achievements of and obstacles to drug-sentencing reform amid broader efforts toward judicial and security-sector reform in post-revolutionary Tunisia.
Link between drug sentencing and prison overcrowding
In 1992, the Tunisian government enacted Law 52, which strengthened drug criminalization and imposed harsh mandatory prison sentences.… Seguir leyendo »