Buenos Aires, Aug 26 (EFE) Criminal penalties for possession of drugs for personal use are unconstitutional, Argentina's Supreme Court has ruled, overturning the convictions of five people who were arrested with several marijuana joints.

In a unanimous decision, the judges upheld the sentences of those who sold the marijuana and urged all elements of government to embrace the battle against drug trafficking as 'a policy of state'.

The court called on politicians to 'adopt preventive health measures, with information and education to dissuade people from (drug) consumption, focussed, above all, on the most vulnerable groups, especially minors'.

The judges based their ruling on the Argentine Constitution, which establishes -- they said -- that 'each adult individual is sovereign to make free decisions about the lifestyle he or she desires without the state's being able to interfere in that ambit'.