Uruguay Begins Debate Over Legalizing Production of Marijuana

If approved, the bill, unveiled in June 2012 as part of a series of measures to combat rising violence, will head to the Senate for passage.

"The regulation is not meant to promote consumption, consumption already exists," lawmaker Sebastian Sabini, who helped draft the legislation, said at the beginning of the session.

President Jose Mujica has backed the bill.

"What we would be doing is regulating a legal activity in our country. The other option encourages users to go to the black market, go to an area where drugs are being sold, and come into contact with substances that are more dangerous, harmful to health and cause more physical dependence," Sabini said.

Under current law, possession of marijuana for personal use is permitted in Uruguay, although it is up to judges to determine what quantity is considered appropriate for personal use.

Sabini stressed that the drug business "finances organized crime and illicit activities such as trafficking in persons, arms sales and money laundering."

"It does not mean we have to stop fighting drug trafficking, it means that drug trafficking must be fought in meaningful ways; not by fighting the user who has 40 grams in his pocket," Sabini told the legislature.

The bill specifies that the government would assume control and regulation of the importation, planting, cultivation, harvesting, production, acquisition, storage, marketing and distribution of marijuana and its derivatives.

Those using the drug would be able to cultivate up to six plants, gain access to the drug as part of a marijuana-growing club or purchase up to 40 grams per month at a dispensary.

The bill will be voted on after a long negotiating process within the president's left-leaning Frente Amplio (FA) party, which has a small parliamentary majority. The measure is rejected by all opposition parties.

Source-AFP

View the original article here

Legalizing Pot Being Pondered by Latin American States

The report examined an issue that until recently was a taboo topic in the region. Politicians, desperate for measures to control drug-linked violence, are now open to legalization.

The report does not make specific proposals, but looks at different scenarios in which countries could handle the drug trade blamed on scores of deaths.

"Never before has a multilateral organization engaged in such an inclusive and intellectually legitimate analysis of drug policy options," said Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, the largest US group pushing for reforming drug policies in the United States.

"It would have been inconceivable just two years ago that the OAS -- or any multilateral organization -- would publish a document that considers legalization, decriminalization and other alternatives to prohibitionist policies on an equal footing with status quo policies."

According to Nadelmann, "political pressures by the US and other governments would have made that impossible."

The new focus on alternatives to prohibition reflects the "unhappiness" of Latin Americans toward a US policy that continues to focus on crop eradication and militarized crackdowns, said Peter Hakim at the Inter-American Dialogue, a leading Washington think tank.

"Legalization is one alternative. I don't think it's going to really be widely adopted, but is a way of getting the debate started," he said.

OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza traveled to Bogota to personally hand the report to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos.

Santos, a key US ally in Latin America, is also one of the leading voices in calling for a fresh look at counter-narcotics policies.

According to the report, the regulation of some drugs would allow governments to reassign resources to the prevention and treatment of addicts.

Source-AFP

View the original article here