URUGUAY CLOSER TO LEGALIZING MARIJUANA

URUGUAY

Views on marijuana are shifting, but nearly everywhere, it is too early to talk about substantive changes to drug policies. Not so in Uruguay.
The small South American country is poised to become the first nation to legalize and regulate the production, sale and consumption of weed.

 

This would place Uruguay at the vanguard of liberal drug policies, surpassing even The Netherlands, where recreational drugs are illegal but a policy of tolerance is in place.

 

The bill, which was passed by Uruguay's Chamber of Deputies and will be taken up by the Senate, attempts to answer the questions that inevitably arise when debating drug policy: How will marijuana be regulated? Who will grow it? How can the country avoid cannabis tourism?

 

The Uruguayan government offers specific proposals for how to manage a legal market for marijuana.

 

The government supports the marijuana bill and says it was designed to resolve issues particular to Uruguay. But the model the bill proposes will undoubtedly be studied by other countries that grapple with the similar questions.

 

The government studied drug policies in many countries where marijuana is decriminalized or tolerated, but the bill that has garnered international attention was not designed to be copied. It is tailored for the problems that Uruguay faces, Calzada said.

 

Rising drug violence "has impacted daily life in our country," and regulating the market could be a solution, he said.

 

If it becomes law, the new marijuana regulation will put Uruguay at odds with many countries that continue to pursue an aggressive policy of prohibition. But conversations about rethinking marijuana laws have sprung up in Latin America and elsewhere, and Uruguay is prepared to take any heat about its decision, Calzada said.