Puerto Rico’s Governor Voices Support For Drug Decriminalization

The governor of Puerto Rico says that he supports broadly decriminalizing—but not legalizing—currently illicit drugs.

Gov. Pedro Pierluisi of the New Progressive Party said on Thursday that while he’s committed to addressing the U.S. territory’s fentanyl issues and wants to continue to prosecute those involved in the illegal distribution of drugs, he doesn’t agree that people who use them should be incarcerated.

While he said that full legalization is “not for me,”according to a translation reported by The San Juan Daily Star, “decriminalization could be done to a certain extent, but with great care and controls, because we do not want to encourage drug use in Puerto Rico. If anything, we want to discourage it.”

“I have always said that drug users, addicts, should not be imprisoned, except when it is a repeat offense and they are committing a series of crimes that do not provide alternatives,” he said.

Asked about potentially advancing decriminalization legislation, the governor noted that such a reform proposal was filed but it “did not achieve the support of the majority” in the legislature.

Pierluisi—alongside Carmen Bonet, head of the Mental Health and Anti-Addiction Services Administration (ASSMCA)—also promoted the U.S. territory’s efforts to provide access to harm reduction tools, including the anti-overdose drug naloxone and drug testing kits to detect potential contamination.

“Those who use it for recreation, right now, are risking their lives with this fentanyl thing,” the governor said, Noticel reported. “And those who use it for addiction must be strongly helped because many times they do not have control over their own actions.”

Bonet, for her part, pointed out that “ASSMCA has made more aggressive campaigns to close off [access to] illicit fentanyl, because we must mention that fentanyl in therapeutic use is a controlled drug due to its potency.”

“It is a fentanyl created in clandestine laboratories without any type of quality control, and it can be lethal,” she said. “ASSMCA has distributed more than 100,000 naloxone kits in recent years and has trained more than 26,000 people, including professionals and community leaders.”

Puerto Rico is also among several U.S. territories where lawmakers have explored marijuana policy reform in recent years. Medical cannabis is already legal there, for example.

In 2022, an independent senator filed a bill to remove penalties for low-level cannabis possession, motivated by President Joe Biden’s marijuana pardons actions.

At the time, a spokesperson for the governor, who has backed modest cannabis reform legislation but made dismissive remarks about the benefits of adult-use legalization, signaled that the official would not be taking steps to issue cannabis clemency in line with Biden’s request.

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