URUGUAY: Uruguay says move to oversee marijuana market will help cripple drug traffickers and reduce use of harder drugs

Record ID: 351544

  • Title: URUGUAY: Uruguay says move to oversee marijuana market will help cripple drug traffickers and reduce use of harder drugs
  • Date: 27th June 2012
  • Summary: PEOPLE WALKING IN STREETS
  • Embargoed: 12th July 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Uruguay
  • Country: Uruguay
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA5K8XBNTBXPIMPBKKBIAH8AYKS
  • Story Text: Uruguay's bid to oversee marijuana sales would make the small South American country the first state directly involved in the cannabis business, something they say will help them control harder drugs and cripple the black market.
    The use of marijuana is already legal in Uruguay but can only be purchased on the black market, a $75-million market the administration of leftist President Jose Mujica feels is more dangerous than the drug itself.
    The bill, set to be voted on shortly in Congress, is expected to pass despite opposition from rightist lawmakers.
    "This proposal has the main objective of separating the cannabis market from the market for cocaine base and cocaine. The sales mechanism in the black market works like a supermarket shelf. There are products bunched together and what happens a lot of time is you go looking for a certain product and end up buying a different one," said Julio Calzada, the head of the local drug agency.
    The country estimates they will need to produce 27 tonnes annually to meet the smoking needs of the some 3.3 million inhabitants.
    If the bill passes, they plan on planting on a 100-acre plot in September.
    "The model is what they adopted in The Netherlands in 1978, in the 1970s, which tended to separate the heroin market from the cannabis market. It had great results in the spread of HIV in Europe in the 1990s, which didn't hit The Netherlands as hard as it did in the rest of Europe," he said.
    Calzada says a ban on selling to foreigners will prevent Uruguay from turning into an international drug haven.
    "We need to prevent that these substances are sold on the black market regionally and locally. We also want to be very clear that we don't want to repeat the negative aspects of what happened in The Netherlands like drug tourism," Calzada said.
    But not everyone is convinced the measure will cut into the use of more dangerous drugs.
    Opposition lawmaker Analia Pineyrua will be among those voting against the bill.
    "There are enormous doubts about the issue and how it's going to be implemented, but the idea for us, and for me in particular, provokes a feeling of rejection. I think the international studies indicate that this doesn't lower consumption. The Netherlands is a country where legalising marijuana didn't lower consumption of crack cocaine. I spoke to the Association of Mothers of the Plaza -- an organisation of people who have family members that consume crack cocaine and specialise in this issue - and there's no way those who use crack are going to abandon it for marijuana. They are two drugs that have totally different affects," the representative said.
    Meanwhile, Uruguayans who have been fighting against drug prohibition for years celebrated the move.
    "We greeted it with excitement and we salute this measure from the executive branch. I think it helps redirect the public debate on the issue," said Martin Collazo of Prolegal.
    But Collazo also said cutting into drug trafficking is a narrow argument.
    "It's a direct attack on the drug trafficking that has been sustained by prohibitionist policies, policies the United States itself has recognised as a failure. However, it's not the only argument for legalising marijuana. There are a large number of reasons that also need to be put on the table, so it seems to us that putting it inside this package confuses the debate. We are have to discuss on one hand the security issue, and on the other hand the reasons many artists have, for example. We are working in parliament to get this recognised and let people grow their own," he said.
    In the streets of Montevideo, people were divided on the issue.
    "I think it's going to be more a problem than a solution. I can understand someone consuming what they have planted on their balcony, but the government producing and selling it isn't so convincing to me," said Marta Valezquez.
    "It's one thing to control and another thing to produce. The government should never produce the drug," added Ana Verdes.
    "It's good because you go to a place where they sell drugs and you end up taking something else. That's not good," added Done Perugorria.
    The proposal to legalize the marijuana market is one of 15 crime-fighting measures that include tougher penalties for police corruption, crack-cocaine trafficking and juvenile offenders. No firm date has yet been set for the bill to go to the Congress.
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