URUGUAY: Senate expected to approve legalisation and regulation of marijuana

Record ID: 351596

  • Title: URUGUAY: Senate expected to approve legalisation and regulation of marijuana
  • Date: 9th December 2013
  • Summary: MONTEVIDEO, URUGUAY (RECENT) (REUTERS) GENERAL VIEW OF NATIONAL PARTY REPRESENTATIVE, VERONICA ALONSO (OPPONENT OF LEGALISING MARIJUANA AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE ADDICTION COMMISSION) AT HER DESK (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) NATIONAL PARTY REPRESENTATIVE, VERONICA ALONSO (OPPONENT OF LEGALISING MARIJUANA AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE ADDICTION COMMISSION), SAYING: "We understand that th
  • Embargoed: 24th December 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Uruguay
  • Country: Uruguay
  • Topics: Health
  • Reuters ID: LVAZLBTZUROXD680X1NKDVVZSJT
  • Story Text: Uruguay's Senate is expected to pass a law on Tuesday (December 9) that will make it the first nation in the world to allow its citizens not just to smoke marijuana, but to grow and buy the drug legally.
    The government-sponsored bill establishes state regulation of the cultivation, distribution and consumption of marijuana and is aimed at wresting the business from from petty criminals and drug traffickers.
    Uruguay's House of Representatives passed the legislation earlier in the year, clearing the way for Senate approval.
    Uruguay's President Jose Mujica said he sees the bill as a new approach to fight drug trafficking.
    "What we want is not to propitiate the development of marijuana. What we are supporting is controlling this vice as an addiction that cannot prosper and cannot serve as a port of entry for other forms of drug addiction, as has happened in many parts of the world. That is the issue. To attack it from the market side - in a way so that the marijuana trafficker does not bring it because the State sells it cheaper and controlled. Instead of fighting it from the police side, fight it from the market side," he said recently.
    But according to opponents, the drug trafficking argument has flaws and could even potentially serve as a slippery slope to legislation for harder drugs.
    Representative Veronica Alonso belongs to the right-wing National Party and serves on the House's Addiction Commission.
    "We understand that this project in particular, if one analyses it carefully, does not solve the problem of drug trafficking because if one seeks to find a definitive and true solution to the problem of drug trafficking, then we should - or shortly we will - be talking about the legalisation or the regulation of cocaine, which really is the most important market," she said.
    If the measure passes, cannabis consumers would be allowed to buy a maximum 40 grams each month from state-regulated pharmacies as long as they are over the age of 18 and registered on a government data base that will monitor their monthly purchases.
    Uruguayans would be allowed to grow up to six plants of marijuana in their homes a year, or as much as 480 grams (about 17 ounces). They would also be permitted to set up smoking clubs of 15 to 45 members that could grow up to 99 plants per year.
    Jordi Alos Llado is the president of a non-profit dedicated to helping drug abusers. He said he sees value in the law, but has concerns.
    "I believe that the law has a very good political intention. It is a law that will defend those who are the consumers of marijuana, but I have great doubt that it will be regulated efficiently and that it will truly benefit global society," he said.
    Llado added that he wonders how parents will feel.
    "It is a test - I am very sceptical of the results it will have. I don't know how fathers and mothers will react tomorrow when they want to tell their children not to use it and it is a product that is as legal as alcohol is today, which generates so many problems in Uruguay, no?"
    Although the initiative has generated controversy, support has grown. A coalition of prominent Uruguayan organisations launched a "Responsible Regulation" campaign, targeting national TV with ads explaining the measure's background and benefits.
    "Responsible Regulation" spokesperson, Martin Collazo, said the passage of the bill is only one step. Many challenges lie ahead.
    "Well, what we are going to have on Tuesday is the end of a two-year process and what we have been looking for with a lot of effort from many people. Now begins the most important and the most interesting part, which will be to have good quality marijuana at a low cost in the pharmacy and, furthermore, that the productive system that is implemented a productive system that is appropriate to Uruguay and not only to foreign capitals, no?" he said.
    The use of marijuana is already legal in Uruguay, one of the most liberal Latin American countries, but cultivation and sale of the drug is not.
    Several countries such as Canada, Holland and Israel have legal programmes for the growth of medical cannabis, but do not allow cultivation of marijuana for recreational purposes.
    Last year, the U.S. states of Colorado and Washington passed ballot initiatives that legalise and regulate the recreational use of marijuana. If the measure passes, Uruguay would be the first nation to do so.
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