Pubdate: Sun, 19 Aug 2012
Source: Miami Herald (FL)
Column: In My Opinion
Copyright: 2012 Miami Herald Media Co.
Contact:  http://www.miamiherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/262
Author: Andres Oppenheimer

URUGUAY'S PLAN TO SELL POT MAY NOT BE THAT CRAZY

Judging from what Uruguay's President Jose Mujica told me in an 
extended interview last week, there is a real possibility that people 
in his country will soon be able to buy marijuana legally from a 
state-regulated company that will be in charge of marketing and 
selling the drug.

Mujica, 78, earlier this month submitted a bill to congress that may 
be the boldest marijuana legalization proposal anywhere in the world. 
It calls for the state to "take over the control and regulation of 
activities related to the importation, production, acquisition, 
storage, marketing and distribution of marijuana."

This would go way beyond what countries such as the Netherlands and 
Portugal have done in recent decades to in effect decriminalize 
marijuana use. It also dwarfs recent proposals by Guatemalan 
President Otto Perez Molina - and milder versions by the leaders of 
Colombia and Mexico - to start an open debate over legalization of drugs.

Are you proposing that the state start selling marijuana? I asked Mujica.

"It's a little bit more profound than that," he answered. "The idea 
is to take away the market from drug traffickers."

Mujica explained that, nowadays, drug traffickers who sell marijuana 
in Uruguay often induce young people to consume heavier drugs, such 
as cocaine paste. That has caused, among other things, a major rise 
in violent crime in the country.

"We prefer that this market of bland drugs no longer be used as a 
gateway for the sale of the so-called hard-drugs," Mujica said.

By regulating Uruguay's estimated $40 million-a-year marijuana 
business, the state will take it away from drug traffickers, and 
weaken the drug cartels, he said. In addition, the state would be 
able to keep track of all marijuana consumers in the country, and 
provide treatment to the most serious abusers, much like is being 
done today with alcoholics, he said.

Asked whether under his proposal people would buy marijuana in street 
cafes or kiosks, Mujica said it will be up to the Uruguayan congress 
to decide that. He added that his bill has a "50-50 chance of 
passing," but that he is hopeful that a public discussion of it will 
lead to some variation of it being approved soon.

What about the criticism that a state-run marijuana company would 
become an inefficient bureaucracy, with high chances of becoming 
corrupted by the drug trade? I asked.

Mujica, who until now has refused to reveal whether he supports a 
state or private firm to run the proposed marijuana enterprise, said 
that "a private company will sell it" under strict government 
control, much like what happens today with alcohol sales. In other 
words, the state would hire a private firm to manage the business.

And what about the argument that if this law passes, Uruguay will 
become a marijuana tourism destination? I asked.

"This will be a mechanism for Uruguayans, who will be registered, and 
who will have a monthly ration" of the drug, he said, adding that 
foreigners will not qualify to buy marijuana.

Wouldn't lower marijuana prices lead to an increase in consumption, 
much like happened with alcohol at the end of the U.S. prohibition 
era in the 1930s? I asked. Mujica responded that it's a risk worth taking.

When the United States lifted its ban on alcohol, "people at first 
drank a little bit more, but the fact is that life went on in the 
United States, and today it's a pretty prosperous nation, isn't it?" he said.

"What we can't afford doing is continuing to play the fools, to look 
the other way" while consumption of harder drugs and drug-related 
violence continues, Mujica concluded. "We must try other weapons."

My opinion: When I first read Mujica's proposal to have the state 
"take over" control of marijuana sales, my first reaction was to fear 
that Uruguay will create one more inept, state-run bureaucracy filled 
with government cronies, who will probably end up smoking up the 
company's income or - worse - selling harder drugs on the side.

But if Mujica's plan is to subcontract a reputable private firm to 
run the business under state regulations - much like is done with 
scotch or beer companies -, as he said in the interview, the idea may 
not be that crazy. Its income may help fund education, prevention and 
treatment programs for harder drugs.

What's clear is that the four-decade-old U.S.-backed war on drugs is 
not working, and that it's producing tens of thousands of dead across 
the hemisphere, without significant gains in reducing consumption. 
Experimenting with new weapons to weaken the cartels may be better 
than doing nothing.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom