Uruguay Legalizes Marijuana Trade (world's first national marketplace for legal marijuana)

[kpete]

Source: Huffington Post

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AP) — Uruguay's Senate approved the world's first national marketplace for legal marijuana Tuesday, an audacious and risky experiment that puts the government in charge of growing, selling and using a drug that is illegal almost everywhere else.

The vote was 16 to 13, with the governing Broad Front majority united in favor. The plan now awaits the signature of President Jose Mujica, who wants the market to begin operating next year.

Two-thirds of Uruguayans oppose a government-run marijuana industry, according to opinion polls. But Mujica said he's convinced the global drug war is a failure and feels bureaucrats can do a better job of containing addictions and beating organized crime than police, soldiers and prison guards.

"Today is an historic day. Many countries of Latin America, and many governments, will take this law as an example," cheered Sen. Constanza Moreira, voting with the Broad Front majority.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/09/uruguay-legalizes-marijua_n_4415245.html

[Jackpine Radical]

1. Aw, shit.

Now I spoze I gotta learn Spanish.

[loudsue]

5. Ha hahahaha!!!

que bueno!

[Titonwan]

15. Good news, but off topic re: HuffPo

As of today, unless you sign up for FaceFuck(book), you will no longer be able to comment on their website (you can still fan or fave- whoo hoo). Welcome to the machine. Hi NSA! Smooches.

[GliderGuider]

2. The times they are a-changin'... nt

[Comrade Grumpy]

3. The first crack in the wall of pot prohibition at the global level.

We've got two states doing it here in the US, and more will free the weed in 2014.

!Ya basta!

[msongs]

4. not really legal. govt monopoly. if u cant grow your own the govt is the new drug gang nt

[Comrade Grumpy]

9. You can grow your own, you can grow in a collective, or you can buy it at the pharmacy.

You can grow up to six plants.

[joshcryer]

13. Limited to 40 grams a month per person. Database to monitor usage. No tourists allowed.

It's no where near as free as it could be.

Colorado is: anyone over 21, no database to monitor usage, tourists / out of staters can smoke free. Six plants tops per person (but only 3 flowering at any given time). Individuals can't sell, must have a marijuana license (like alcohol or tobacco).

edit: the clubs can grow up to 99 plants but as far as I can tell they can't sell it. Only the government is authorized to sell.

[Comrade Grumpy]

19. Definitely not the tomato model. Somebody's gonna have to lighten up...

...but it ain't gonna be Pepe Mujica.

Seriously, we need to treat pot like alcohol. No limits on possession and a reasonable home grow option, with limited non-commercial transfers allowed. Like home brews.

But I'll give Uruguay credit for sticking a thumb in the eye of the UN anti-drug bureaucrats (who are really quite toothless), even if it is marijuana legalization with an asterisk.

There will be legalization initiatives for sure in Alaska and Oregon next year. We'll have to see what that language looks like.

[joshcryer]

20. What'll be stupid is once the US legalizes, the UN will be all for it.

Just shitting on Latin American states on this issue.

I think Mujica is a real pragmatist, and I think the restrictions are actually due to the DEA and those who would benefit from the limitations (ie, anyone not registered and growing a lot of plants is automatically deemed a trafficker). The connection is obvious when you see Gerardo Amarilla quoting Julio Calzada as a reason not to legalize. I hope, once the door is open, Mujica lessens the restrictions, because they're unnecessary and buff the JND. (Junta Nacional de Drogas, National Drug enforcement, basically their DEA.) I think that's Mujica's plan in the end, let's hope his party stays in power.

And yeah, I think there's a good possibility that marijuana goes "regulate like alcohol" in the next 5 years. Hell, if we can flip the House, unlikely I realize, we could have it as early as 2015. WA and CO are going to show a lot of states how it can benefit the states, especially if people drink less alcohol and take up marijuana, the costs savings alone from accidents would be enormous. If only I was so optimistic about single payer. (I think single payer is coming but not for 10 years or more.)

[lutefisk]

6. Uruguay, ftw

Hola Montevideo.

[Jesus Malverde]

7. Puff on...

Lawmakers earlier agreed an initial price of $1 per gram, while the illegal market value currently stands at around $1.40 for a gram.

If passed, the bill will allow registered adult citizens (aged above 18) to buy up to 40 grams of pot per month from pharmacies. Registered Uruguayans will also have a right to cultivate up to six marijuana plants, and cannabis clubs with up to 45 members will be able to grow up to 99 plants. The regulation of the market, as well as control over prices and production levels will be carried out by a specially set up government-run institute.

Currently, it is illegal to sell drugs in Uruguay, but consuming them or possessing for personal use is not penalized. Pot is the most common of drugs in the country, where its consumption has doubled over the past decade. The National Drug Board estimates that there are around 120,000 marijuana users in Uruguay from a population of 3.3 million, while consumer groups put the number of users at around 200,000.

http://rt.com/news/uruguay-marijuana-senate-legalize-949/

[kenichol]

8. 'Bout Time!

After 31 years of the failed War on Drugs, at least Uruguay has had the Huevos to do the right thing. Now, maybe, if this spreads to the North, we will have made the drug cartels a thing of the past, along with the devastation accompanying the failed War on Drugs.

[Jesus Malverde]

10. 3..2..1

Counting down until the UN starts whining...

UN narcotics body warns Uruguay over marijuana bill
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-23535990

and

Will Uruguay Trigger a Global Marijuana Revolution?
http://fusion.net/justice/story/legalizing-marijuana-uruguay-trigger-global-revolution-295940

Uruguay 'Breaks The Taboo' And Legalizes Marijuana To Tackle Drug Trafficking
http://www.forbes.com/sites/andersonantunes/2013/12/10/uruguay-breaks-the-taboo-and-legalizes-marijuana-to-tackle-drug-trafficking/

[idwiyo]

22. Fuck 'em. I am with President Jose Mujica on this.

[Jesus Malverde]

11. Uruguayan President on Marijuana: 'I Want to Rob That Illegal Business Market'

Uruguayan President José Mujica envisions his country’s legalization of marijuana as a kind of state-sponsored Robin Hood operation.

“In Uruguay, like in other parts, the market exists,” he told Jorge Ramos in an interview that aired Tuesday on Fusion. “There are people who sell, people who make money, people who traffic with it. I want to rob that illegal business market, and put it in the light of day.”

Uruguay is set to embark on a bold policy experiment on Tuesday, with its legislature ready to approve the state-sanctioned cultivation and distribution of marijuana.

The vote will make Uruguay the first country to legitimize the cannabis trade. Uruguayans will be able to purchase up to 1.4 ounces of marijuana each month from state-run pharmacies, so long as they’re over the age of 18 and registered with the government.

On “AMERICA with Jorge Ramos,” Mujica acknowledged that the majority of Uruguayans -- 61 percent -- aren’t in favor of legalization.

“They have reasons to be scared, right?” Ramos asked.

“How could they not be scared,” Mujica said. “But we are much more scared of the existence of drug trafficking…drug trafficking is much worse than the drug. The drug, you can control.”

Although he’s been a vocal proponent of legalizing pot in Uruguay, Mujica isn’t a marijuana smoker himself.

“Frankly, I don’t even have an idea of what it is,” Mujica said.

http://fusion.net/justice/story/uruguayan-president-marijuana-rob-illegal-business-market-300685

[Titonwan]

16. Excellent! Thanks

It won't work here- we got too many G.I.Joe wannabe cops and DEA agents who'd have to work at McDonald's if we eliminated their jobs. Gots to have half the people gankin' the other half or nobody gets paid, yo.
That's where were at in 'America', now. Ain't that special.

[joshcryer]

12. Colorado was first!

Just not the first nation.

Oh and Uruguay is going to make it government run as opposed to the markets / individuals.

[Titonwan]

17. Fuckin' So?

If you're allowed to grow it, you'll figure it out. Duh. Fuck a market if I can do it myself. (Big ass hint: you will be able to grow your own in Uruguay, so the big bad government ain't all in yer grill as you imply)

[joshcryer]

18. 'cept the big bad government will put you on a database of users.

[kristopher]

14. Last week's Council of Councils meeting in Mexico City

From Latin America Charts Its Own Course: Reflections on the Mexico City CoC Meeting
by Stewart M. Patrick
December 5, 2013

...Latin America is determined to seek new approaches to drugs and crime: In Carl Sandburg’s epic poem The People, Yes, a little girl watching soldiers march in a parade muses, “Sometime they’ll give a war and nobody will come.” Governments and opinion-makers across Latin America are increasingly adopting that very attitude toward Washington’s bankrupt, forty-year old “war on drugs.” In 2012, at the request of its member states, the OAS produced a groundbreaking report, The Drug Problem in the Americas. It documented, in meticulous detail, the devastating impact that current supply side approaches to combating the illegal drug trade have had in both producer and transit countries, generating—among other things—horrific levels of violence in Mexico and Central America. The report—and the conversations in Mexico City—revealed a growing appetite among Latin American countries for alternative approaches to crop eradication and interdiction. From Guatemala to Colombia to Uruguay, sitting political leaders are, for the first time, considering alternatives to criminalization and prohibition—mirroring experimentation occurring among some states in the United States itself. Conference participants agreed that the time had come to take a public health approach to the drug problem and focus more on harm reduction—including lowering levels of violence in the most affected nations. (By coincidence, today the United States celebrates the 80th anniversary of the 21st Amendment, which repealed Prohibition. We might consider the lesssons of that failed policy in the context of the ongoing drug war).

Entire article: http://blogs.cfr.org/patrick/2013/12/05/latin-america-charts-its-own-course-reflections-on-the-mexico-city-coc-meeting/

[idwiyo]

21. K&R Huge, enthusiastic K&R! Wish there was someone like President Jose Mujica to run UK.

[Eugene]

23. Uruguay marijuana move 'illegal' - UN drugs watchdog

Source: BBC

11 December 2013 Last updated at 17:46 GMT

Uruguay marijuana move 'illegal' - UN drugs watchdog

Uruguay's decision to legalise the production, sale and consumption of marijuana violates international law, the UN drugs watchdog says.

The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) warned that the move would endanger young people and "contribute to the earlier onset of addiction".

The new law will allow registered Uruguayans over 18 to buy up to 40g (1.4oz) of the drug a month.

[font size=1]-snip-[/font]

INCB chief Raymond Yans said he was "surprised" that the government in Montevideo had "knowingly decided to break the universally agreed and internationally endorsed treaty".

[font size=1]-snip-[/font]

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-25340324

[RainDog]

24. At this time, new UN statements are being drafted

http://www.democraticunderground.com/11701527

I'm sure this will be a lively topic of discussion.