Pubdate: Fri, 02 Aug 2013
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright: 2013 Associated Press
Contact: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/submissions/#1
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388

URUGUAY ON THE VERGE OF TAKING OVER POT INDUSTRY

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AP) - Uruguay's unprecedented plan to put the 
government at the center of a legal marijuana industry has made it 
halfway through congress, giving President Jose Mujica a long-sought 
victory in his effort to explore alternatives to the global war on drugs.

All 50 members of the governing Broad Front coalition approved the 
proposal in a party-line vote just before midnight Wednesday. The 
measure now goes to the Senate, where Mujica's coalition has a bigger 
majority and passage is expected to come within weeks for the 
proposal to make Uruguay the world's first nation to create a legal, 
regulated marijuana market.

"Sometimes small countries do great things," said Ethan Nadelmann, 
executive director of the U.S. Drug Policy Alliance. "Uruguay's bold 
move does more than follow in the footsteps of Colorado and 
Washington. It provides a model for legally regulating marijuana that 
other countries, and U.S. states, will want to consider - and a 
precedent that will embolden others to follow in their footsteps."

Marijuana legalization efforts have gained momentum across the 
Americas in recent years as leaders watch the death toll rise from 
military responses to unabated drug trafficking in Mexico and Central 
America. Presidents Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia and Otto Perez of 
Guatemala also have called for reforms, and a recent report by a 
commission of the Organization of American States encouraged new 
approaches, including legalization of marijuana.

But no sitting president has gone as far as Mujica to support the 
creation of legal alternatives to marijuana trafficking.

Legislators in the governing coalition said putting the government at 
the center of a legal marijuana industry is worth trying because the 
global war on drugs has been a costly and bloody failure, and 
displacing illegal dealers through licensed pot sales could save 
money and lives.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom