Pubdate: Thu, 12 Dec 2013
Source: Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Copyright: 2013 Associated Press
Contact:  http://www.morningjournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3569
Authors: Leonardo Haberkorn and Michael Warren, Associated Press

FROM SEED TO SMOKE, URUGUAY TESTING LEGALIZED POT

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AP) - Uruguay's drug control chief, Julio 
Calzada, is a nervous man.

As of Wednesday, he has just 120 days to deliver regulations 
controlling the world's first national marijuana market.

President Jose Mujica's goal is to drive drug traffickers out of the 
dope business and reduce consumption by creating a safe, legal and 
transparent environment in which the state closely monitors every 
aspect of marijuana use, from seed to smoke. That means designing and 
maintaining an industry that is small, contained and profitable.

Congress only approved Mujica's grand "experiment" in broad strokes.

The fine print must strike a delicate balance on issues including 
what strength to allow for marijuana, what price to charge, who can 
farm it, how to crack down on illegal growers, how to persuade users 
to buy from the state instead of a dealer, and how to monitor use 
without being seen as Big Brother. If the rules are too lenient, or 
too strict, the whole project could fail.

QUALITY: To compete against illegal dealers, the licensed product has 
to offer a good high, but not so good that consumption explodes or 
other problems ensue. Calzada told the AP that pharmacies might sell 
varieties with between 5 percent and 15 percent of THC, marijuana's 
psychoactive substance.

COST: Calzada said they might begin charging a dollar a gram, and 
raise or lower it in competition with illegal dealers. Opposition 
Sen. Jorge Larranaga said this could require subsidies, since in the 
Netherlands, a gram costs eight euros, more than 10 times as much. 
Calzada suggested legal pot can be grown much more cheaply in Uruguay.

SUPPLY: Calzada estimates that with fewer than 200,000 habitual 
smokers in the country of 3.3 million people, just 25 acres could 
provide enough weed to complement marijuana produced by authorized 
pot-growing clubs and individuals licensed to grow a maximum of six 
plants at home. He said farmers have expressed interest, but how to 
choose them remains to be determined.

DEMAND: The goal is to persuade Uruguayan adults currently buying 
from illegal dealers to register with the state, and then crack down 
on illegal dealers and users. The registration process must be 
welcoming, and yet have built-in protections so the state can stop 
licensed users from reselling their legal pot to unregistered friends 
or even visiting tourists.

CLONING: To crack down on illegal supplies, licensed product must be 
identifiable. Mujica's wife, Sen. Lucia Topolansky, told the AP the 
state would provide cloned seeds whose plants can be traced. 
Opponents said that once license holders grow the allowed six plants 
at home, tracing legal weed may be impossible. Calzada said he's 
studying the problem.

MONITORING: Too much government intervention and people won't sign up 
for legal highs. Too little and the market could quickly spin out of 
control. Socialist Deputy Julio Bango, who co-authored the law, says 
they're drawing on the state of Colorado's experience for these logistics.

Mujica acknowledged that his government isn't "totally prepared," but 
said the global drug war has clearly failed.

"Einstein said that there's nothing more absurd than trying to change 
the results by always repeating the same formula. That's why we want 
to try other methods," he said in an interview published Wednesday in 
the newspaper La Republica. "We know we've started down a road where 
there's no university to tell us what to do. But we have to try, 
because there's no blind man worse than the one who doesn't want to see."

Senators gave the plan its final congressional approval Tuesday night 
despite warnings by the U.N.'s International Narcotics Control Board 
that it violates a treaty signed by Uruguay limiting the legal use of 
cannabis and other narcotics to medical and scientific purposes.

Venezuela's foreign minister, Elias Jaua, on Wednesday called it an 
"audacious" and "innovative" move that his government will be closely 
evaluating as it's implemented.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom