Uruguay moves to legalize marijuana

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2013/0801/Global-trendsetter-Uruguay-moves-to-legalize-marijuana

by anigbrowl • 13 years ago

178 65 13 years ago

D9u5• 13 years ago

This is a good start.

By removing the profit motive from cannabis production it helps to reduce cartel receipts, helps to reduce smuggling, and separates cannabis from other, truly harmful, drugs such as cocaine, methamphetamines, and heroin.

That so many US states have already made provisions to either decriminalize medical use, and or recreational use, by individuals, serves to illustrate that cannabis is nowhere near as dangerous as governments have attempted to portray cannabis as being.

There is absolutely no reason for the DEA to classify cannabis as a Schedule One drug when legal drugs such as alcohol and tobacco are responsible for an exponentially greater amount of negative social impacts when compared with cannabis.

Case in point?

Amsterdam.

Just look at the statistics regarding "hard" drug use in the Netherlands, as well as incarceration rates, and homicide rates.

http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/netherlands_v_us#sthash.ta7j...

qwertzlcoatl• 13 years ago

I remember the Netherlands had so few criminals that it had to shut down several prisons and lay off hundreds of staff members and started importing criminals from other countries like Belgium on a contract basis because of the lack of people to incarcerate. [1]

This is the country where you could just drive into its capital and buy every strain of cannabis you can possibly imagine and different strains of psilocybin magic mushrooms without so much as a howdy and an ID if you looked younger than 18.

[1] http://vorige.nrc.nl/international/article2246821.ece/Nether...

eshvk• 13 years ago

I am not clear how there is a causal link between the two. Are you saying that legal weed/shrooms causes crime to go down? Or are you merely pointing a correlation?

dreen• 13 years ago

Amsterdam has its own problems namely hordes of drunk and high people from UK and US being loud and obnoxious. As a person who drives through the Netherlands sometimes, if you just want to chill out and smoke a nice joint in the park I recommend Eindhoven.

GFischer9• 13 years ago

Well, I'm from Uruguay, so I'll be glad to answer any questions on the subject :)

The bill was proposed by the governing left wing Broad Front coalition, and voted by all their congressmen.

While the vote appears close, there was more consensus than is shown.

My party (Partido Independiente, the smallest of the four represented) decided not to vote the whole bill, but only some parts, because they're for legalization, but against some of the particulars of the bill.

The most troubling aspects of the bill are:

- The state will license and regulate private cannabis farms and then sell the marijuana at pharmacies.

- There will be a monthly limit of 40 grams per person and

- all consumers will have to register.

My representative, Dr. Daniel Radío (a medical doctor), had presented an alternative bill, and so had Dr. Lacalle Pou (a lawyer) from the major opposition party Partido Nacional.

The other big opposing party, Partido Colorado, is strongly against legalization, which makes sense since it mostly represents right-wing / military types and the elderly.

For a quick summary of the political positions:

Broad Front - Left wing - more akin to Democrats in U.S. (but way more left wing). They include all the spectrum from the former left wing guerrillas, communists, european-style socialists, etc.

Partido Nacional / "Blancos" - Right wing - more akin to Republicans, but pretty centrist overall. Hit very hard by corruption when they formed government.

Partido Colorado - Right wing - akin to Republicans, include most extreme right wing types. Their government led to the military dictatorship.

Partido Independiente - tries to be moderate left wing.

There are an estimate 180.000 consumers of marijuana in my country, about 5% of the population.

Edit: one of the main criticisms was about self cultivated marijuana, which was finally contemplated in the bill.

President Mujica (a very colorful character) said this:

"We are not going to say that weed is good. What happens is, consumers don't give a damn about our advice, but we won't leave them stranded because of that. And they like the adventure of buying from the drug dealer around here and there, because it is illegal. And while it's clandestine, you can smell marijuana around in many places"

"Nosotros nos vamos a decir que la maruja es buena. Lo que pasa es que los que consumen no dan bola a los consejos y no por ello hay que dejarlos en banda. Y están atrás de la aventura de comprarle al narcotraficante por aquí y por allá porque es clandestino. Y aunque es clandestino el olor se siente por muchas partes"

md2242• 13 years ago

The state will license and regulate private cannabis farms and then sell the marijuana at pharmacies

Curious why this is troubling... I can understand arguments for limiting government regulation, but I'm okay with cannabis being regulated much like alcohol is. Does this go beyond that? I don't have much knowledge of the inner workings of alcohol regulation, so it's hard for me to compare.

GFischer9• 13 years ago

Yes, alcohol is freely sold everywhere, the only restriction is for minors (under 18, not 21).

There are worries about discrimination, and pharmacies telling who their customers are (since every sale is registered under your ID).

For comparison, cigarettes and alcohol are anonymous (you might be asked to show an ID, but it's not stored anywhere).

JoshTriplett• 13 years ago

The phrasing suggests that the state does the actual selling, which seems fundamentally broken. Regulate, sure, but don't become part of the market you're regulating.

marpalmin2• 13 years ago

According to your depiction of Uruguayan parties the "Partido Nacional" is more centrist than the "Patido Colorado". I'm not sure if I agree with that.

GFischer9• 13 years ago

Both are right-wing, and both contain centrist and more right-wing factions, but I do believe the Partido Colorado is more right wing.

It's not always a bad thing, I for instance would like a harder stance on security. But they do have some very troubling individuals, and my family knows Dr. Pedro Bordaberry (the son of the one that led to the dictatorship, and current leader of the party) extremely well, and he is extremely right wing.

My girlfriend was secretary of one of the sectors of the Partido Nacional, so I also know a lot of people there, and in my opinion they're slightly more centrist, but (also strictly IMO) they still have a huge problem with cronyism and corruption, not that the governing party doesn't, but they haven't managed to purge that yet.

jjsz3• 13 years ago

I'm from Puerto Rico, supporter of the Sovereign Free Associated State, can you reference those two alternative papers you've mentioned? It gets harder and harder to find straight policy files. For example South Korea's recently combined new economic policies for economic development, they're mostly in bits and pieces throughout blogs.

GFischer9• 13 years ago

I'll have to dig around, I had a hard time finding the text voted today, I believe it's this one

http://www.espectador.com/documentos/Marihuana.pdf

I'll ask my representative for the alternative text from my party, but I don't think I'll be able to get the other one.

They're bills, not scientific studies, I don't know if that's what you wanted :) .

singold• 13 years ago

Maybe this could help http://www.parlamento.gub.uy/repartidos/AccesoRepartidos.asp...

Its more 'official'

Edit: I'm not 100% sure this is what was efectively voted

wildster• 13 years ago

40g a month is a lot more than I thought that a government would go for. 28g is a ounce.

wahnfrieden4• 13 years ago

It's troubling probably because possession above that amount means you're a dealer or something along those lines - whatever is the current law. It means you can't have a stockpile of more than a month's worth.

D9u5• 13 years ago

40 grams per month is slightly more than one joint a day. Some people consume more than that, some less, but 40 grams a month is nowhere near the amount held by dealers.

falk2• 13 years ago

"There will be a monthly limit of 40 grams per person and all consumers will have to register."

Does your government limit the amount of alcohol you can purchase per month and do you have to register to buy said alcohol? Because if not, that's rather ridiculous. I personally would not want to be on any sort of registry like that.

GFischer9• 13 years ago

No, they don't, there are no alcohol licenses or registers or anything.

Stores don't need licenses to sell alcohol either.

We have the dubious record of being the biggest per capita consumers of Whiskey

http://elobservador.com.uy/noticia/256478/uruguay-primero-en...

werid• 13 years ago

My party decided not to vote the whole bill, but only some parts

how does this work? if some parts get enough votes they are turned into law, but the rest of the bill scrapped?

GFischer9• 13 years ago

I'm not sure how it works, sorry. I think it's more a political statement, and paving the way for a new bill that includes those.

deepvibrations• 13 years ago

Were any details given about growing it for your own use?

supervillain• 13 years ago

Legalizing Marijuana is one of the sureshot way to boost the economy of any country (poor, third world, middle and rich) through tourism, travel/leisure, business commerce and export.

GFischer9• 13 years ago

Uruguay already benefits a lot from being gay-friendly, we get lots of cruises. I hope this will give a similar boost :)

Same-sex marriage became legal today, actually :)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same-sex_marriage_in_Uruguay

Edit: August 5, sorry, still, it's very close !

Buzaga2• 13 years ago

Only uruguayans are allowed to buy it.

jlgreco• 13 years ago

If my understanding is correct (and it very well may not be), it is similar in Amsterdam; tourists have more restrictions than locals. Their laws still seem to benefit their tourism though.

andyhmltn• 13 years ago

I'm still perplexed as to why it's not already legal in most places. Of course it's all down to money and lobbying. I wouldn't mind if it was illegal if we weren't allowed to buy tobacco & alcohol either. Both of which are far more detrimental to your health.

Uruguay moves to legalize marijuana

Related Stories