Pubdate: Fri, 02 Aug 2013
Source: Independent  (UK)
Copyright: 2013 Independent Newspapers (UK) Ltd.
Contact:  http://www.independent.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/209
Author: Simeon Tegel
Page: 34

WORLD'S BIGGEST DRUG DEALER

Uruguay's Move Towards Legalising Cannabis Use Has Been Hailed As
Groundbreaking, but Will Other South American Nations Follow Suit?
Simeon Tegel Reports

Uruguay has taken a momentous step towards becoming the first country
in the world to create a legal, national market for cannabis after the
lower chamber of its Congress voted in favour of the groundbreaking
plan. The Bill would allow consumers to either grow up to six plants
at home or buy up to 40g per month of the soft drug  produced by the
government  from licensed chemists for recreational or medical use.
Previously, although possession of small amounts for personal
consumption was not criminalised in the small South American nation,
growing and selling it was against the law. PA As Uruguay's Congress
vote in favour of legalising cannabis, a citizen enjoys the drug outside

The Bill passed by 50 votes to 46 shortly before midnight on Wednesday
after a 14-hour debate as pro-legalisation activists crowded the
balconies above the legislature floor. Uruguay's Senate, where the
ruling left-wing coalition has a larger majority, is now expected to
approve the measure. President Jose Mujica, an octogenarian former
armed rebel  who has previously overseen the passing of measures to
allow abortion and gay marriage  backs the move.

Proponents of the Bill argue marijuana use is already prevalent in
Uruguay and that by bringing consumers out of the shadows the
government will be better able to regulate their behaviour, drive a
wedge between them and peddlers of harder, more dangerous drugs, and
tax cannabis sales.

They also believe that it closes the loophole that outlaws growing or
buying cannabis while turning a legal blind eye to its consumption.
Currently, judges in Uruguay have discretion to decide whether an
undefined small quantity of the drug is for personal use or not.

Campaigners for an end to prohibition were quick to claim the vote as
a landmark in the international push for drug policy reform.
"Sometimes small countries do great things," said Ethan Nadelmann,
executive director of the New York-based Drug Policy Alliance, whose
board includes entrepreneur Richard Branson, but also the late
President Ronald Reagan's former Secretary of State, George Shultz.

"Uruguay's bold move does more than follow in the footsteps of
Colorado and Washington," added Mr Nadelmann, referring to the two
Western US states that recently also permitted recreational cannabis
use. "It provides a model for legally regulating marijuana that other
countries, and US states, will want to consider."

Hannah Hetzer, the Drug Policy Alliance's Americas coordinator, who is
based in Montevideo, added: "At the heart of the Uruguayan marijuana
regulation Bill is a focus on improving public health and public
safety. Instead of closing their eyes to the problem of drug abuse and
drug trafficking, Uruguay is taking an important step towards
responsible regulation of an existing reality."

Nevertheless, the measure has divided Uruguay and in the run-up to the
vote few dared predict its outcome, with the 99-member house almost
split down the middle. All 49 opposition deputies had agreed to vote
against the measure en bloc, while the 50 members of President
Mujica's ruling coalition were due to back it.

One of the government deputies, Dario Perez, a doctor by training, had
warned that cannabis is a gateway drug to harder substances and feared
that fully legalising it would trigger a mushrooming of Uruguay's
already serious problems with crack and other cheaper, highly
addictive cocaine derivatives.

In the most keenly awaited speech of the debate, Mr Perez attacked the
Bill but said he would vote in line with the coalition whip, although
he could not have made his displeasure clearer. "Marijuana is manure,"
he told the chamber. "With or without this law, it is the enemy of the
student and of the worker."

Mr Perez was also unhappy with what he saw as a broken promise by Mr
Mujica not to foist the law on a society that was not yet ready for
it, citing a recent survey by pollsters Cifra that found 63 per cent
of Uruguayans opposed cannabis legalisation while 23 per cent backed
it.

Last December, the president had temporarily placed the measure on the
back burner to give advocates a chance to rally public opinion. "The
majority has to come in the streets," he said then. "The people need
to understand that with bullets and baton blows, putting people in
jail, the only thing we are doing is gifting a market to the
narco-traffickers."

But those arguments failed to convince Gerardo Amarilla, a deputy for
the conservative opposition National Party, who told the chamber: "We
are playing with fire. Maybe we think that this is a way to change
reality. Unfortunately, we are discovering a worse reality."

Official studies from Uruguay's National Drugs Board have found that
of the country's population of 3.4 million, around 184,000 people have
smoked cannabis in the last year. Of that number, 18,400 are daily
consumers. But independent researchers believe that may be a serious
underestimate. The Association of Cannabis Studies has claimed there
are 200,000 regular users in Uruguay.

One thing that no one disputes is that Uruguay has a serious and
growing problem with harder drugs, principally cocaine and its highly
addictive derivatives flooding into the Southern Cone and Brazil,
mainly from Peru and Bolivia. That, in turn, has fuelled a crime wave
as addicts seek to fund their cravings. Breaking the link between them
and cannabis users is one of the government's principal justifications
for marijuana legalisation.

Under the measure, registered users will be able to buy cannabis from
the nation's chemists, cultivate plants at home and form cannabis
clubs of 15 to 45 members to collectively grow up to 99 plants.
Although the high would depend on the strength of the cannabis, which
can vary significantly, the 40g per month limit would allow a user to
potentially smoke several joints every day. To prevent cannabis
tourism, such as that which has developed in Amsterdam, only Uruguayan
nationals will be able to register as cannabis purchasers or growers.

Uruguay's move comes as pressure grows across Latin America for a new
approach to Washington's "war on drugs", which has ravaged the region,
seeing hundreds of thousands die in drug-fuelled conflicts from
Brazil's favelas to Mexico's troubled border cities.

Colombia President Juan Manuel Santos has called for a discussion of
the alternatives while his Guatemalan counterpart Otto Perez Molina
has openly advocated legalisation. Meanwhile, Felipe Calderon,
President of Mexico from 2006 to 2012, has also called for a look at
"market" solutions to the drug trade.

Crucially, all three are conservatives with impeccable records as
tough opponents of the drug trade. Mr Perez Molina is a former army
general with a no-nonsense reputation, while Mr Santos served as
Defence Minister for his predecessor, the hard-right President Alvaro
Uribe. Meanwhile, Mr Calderon was widely criticised during his time in
power for the bloodbath unleashed by his full-frontal assault on the
drug cartels, a conflict which cost an estimated 60,000 lives during
his presidency.
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MAP posted-by: Matt