Uruguay to become first country to legalize marijuana trade!

Uruguay's Senate is expected to pass a law
on Tuesday making the small South
American nation the world's first to allow
its citizens to grow, buy and smoke
marijuana.
The pioneering government-sponsored bill
establishes state regulation of the
cultivation, distribution and consumption
of marijuana and is aimed at wresting the
business from criminals.
Cannabis consumers would be allowed to
buy a maximum of 40 grams (1.4 ounces)
each month from state-regulated
pharmacies as long as they are over the age
of 18 and registered on a government
database that will monitor their monthly
purchases.
Uruguayans would also 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 could also set up
smoking clubs of 15 to 45 members that
could grow up to 99 plants per year.
The bill, which opinion polls show is
unpopular, passed the lower chamber of
Congress in July and is expected to easily
pass the Senate on the strength of the
ruling coalition's majority.
Uruguay's attempt to undo drug
trafficking is being followed closely in
Latin America where the legalization of
some narcotics is being increasingly seen by
regional leaders as a possible way to end
the violence spawned by the cocaine trade.
"Our country can't wait for international
consensus on this issue," Senator Roberto
Conde of the governing Broad Front left-
wing coalition said as Senate debate
opened. He said organized crime had
turned Uruguay into a transit country for
drugs, such as marijuana from Paraguay
and cocaine from Bolivia.
Rich countries debating legalization of
pot are also watching the bill, which
philanthropist George Soros has supported
as an "experiment" that could provide an
alternative to the failed U.S.-led policies
of the long "war on drugs."
The bill gives authorities 120 days to set
up a drug control board that will regulate
cultivation standards, fix the price and
monitor consumption.
The use of marijuana is legal in Uruguay, a
country of 3.3 million that is one of the
most liberal in Latin America, but
cultivation and sale of the drug are not.
Other countries have decriminalized
marijuana possession and the Netherlands
allows its sale in coffee shops, but Uruguay
will be the first nation to legalize the
whole chain from growing the plant to
buying and selling its leaves.
Several countries such as Canada, the
Netherlands and Israel have legal programs
for growing medical cannabis but do not
allow cultivation of marijuana for
recreational use.
Last year, the U.S. states of Colorado and
Washington passed ballot initiatives that
legalize and regulate the recreational use
of marijuana.
Uruguay's leftist president, Jose Mujica,
defends his initiative as a bid to regulate
and tax a market that already exists but
is run by criminals.
"We've given this market as a gift to the
drug traffickers and that is more
destructive socially than the drug itself,
because it rots the whole of society," the
78-year-old former guerrilla fighter told
Argentine news agency Telam.
NOT ALL CONVINCED
Uruguay is one of the safest Latin
American countries with little of the drug
violence or other violence seen in countries
such as Colombia and Mexico. Yet one-third
of Uruguay's prison inmates are serving
time on charges related to narcotics
trafficking.
Even though it is set to clear the Senate,
the legislation faces fierce opposition from
conservatives and Mujica has yet to
convince a majority of Uruguayans that it
is a good idea.
According to a recent opinion poll by
Equipos Consultores, 58 percent of
Uruguayans oppose legalizing pot,
although that is down from 68 percent in a
previous survey in June.
Critics say legalization will not only
increase consumption but open the door to
the use of harder drugs than marijuana,
which according to government statistics is
used by 8 percent of Uruguayans on a
regular basis.
"Competing with drug traffickers by
offering marijuana at a lower price will
just increase the market for a drug that
has negative effects on public health,"
said Senator Alfredo Solari of the
conservative Colorado Party.
If it works, the legislation is expected to
fuel momentum for wider legalization of
marijuana elsewhere, including the United
States and in Europe. Decriminalization
of all drug possession by Portugal in 2001
is held up as a success for reducing drug
violence while not increasing drug use.
"This development in Uruguay is of
historic significance," said Ethan
Nadelmann, founder of the Drug Policy
Alliance, a leading sponsor of drug policy
reform partially funded by Soros through
his Open Society Foundation.
"Uruguay is presenting an innovative
model for cannabis that will better
protect public health and public safety
than does the prohibitionist approach,"
Nadelmann said.( Reuters)