[420 Girl]

Argentina - The government applauded a Supreme Court ruling decriminalizing the personal use of marijuana and said it would "ruthlessly" fight drug trafficking.

The decision of Argentina's highest tribunal had sparked criticism from the Catholic Church and some NGOs, which said it would lead to increases in drug consumption.

However, the Cabinet Chief, who created an experts' committee to analyze the possible decriminalization of drug use as he was Justice Minister last year, supported the ruling saying it would lead to improvements in anti-drug trafficking policies adopted by the Kirchner administration.

"Decriminalization is something we were supporting. The punishment of drug users was the result of the repressive policies adopted by Richard Nixon in the United States, which (former interior minister) José López Rega adopted with devastating effects in Argentina," said Aníbal Fernández talking to reporters as he was entering the Alvear Hotel in Buenos Aires.
According to Fernández, "the repressive politics was unable to curb neither growing areas nor lower consumption in any place in the world."

He meanwhile expressed his confidence that the government will now "cease to punish small users and focus on large drug trafficking networks" operating in the country, and he praised the actions of the Kirchner administration, which, he said, "seized more drug and arrested more people than any other government in the national history."

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