A bill to legalize marijuana in Colombia has stalled out for the year after the Senate failed to advance it with enough support during a final vote on Tuesday—even though a simple majority of senators who were present voted in favor.
The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Juan Carlos Losada, was previously approved in the both chambers last year as part of the two-year process that constitutional amendments must undergo. It then passed the Chamber of Deputies again in May and advanced through a Senate committee this month. But while it received a majority of the votes on the floor on Tuesday, 47-43, it needed 54 in order to be enacted.
Now lawmakers will need to start the two-year legislative process all over again if they want to end prohibition. Losada said following the vote that supporters “are sad, but convinced that we gave it our all to the end.”
Estamos tristes, pero convencidos de que la dimos toda hasta el final. Nunca pensamos llegar tan lejos. Hoy tenemos mayorías, faltaron 7 votos.
Llevamos 4 años en esta lucha y no desfalleceremos para escribir una nueva historia en la lucha contra las drogas.
¡Gracias! pic.twitter.com/Scu3BQW5cR
— Juan Carlos Losada (@JuanKarloslos)
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