Pubdate: Wed, 22 Aug 2012
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA)
Copyright: 2012 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc
Contact:  http://www.philly.com/inquirer/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/340
Author: Andres Oppenheimer
Page: A17

BEYOND LEGALIZATION: A BID TO NATIONALIZE MARIJUANA

Judging by what Uruguay's President Jose Mujica recently told me in an
extended interview, 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, submitted a bill to congress earlier this month that may
be the boldest marijuana legalization proposal 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 well 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 about the 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."

50-50 chance

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, as is already being done with
alcoholics, he said.

Asked whether people would be able to buy marijuana in street cafes or
kiosks under his proposal, Mujica said it would be up to the Uruguayan
congress to decide that.

He added that his bill has a "50-50 chance of passing," but said he
hopes a public discussion of it will lead to some version of it being
approved soon.

What about the criticism that a state-run marijuana company would
become an inefficient bureaucracy, with high chances of being
corrupted by the drug trade? I asked. Mujica, who until then had
refused to reveal whether he supported 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 ... for
Uruguayans, who will be registered, and who will have a monthly
ration" of the drug, he said, adding that foreigners would not be able
to buy marijuana under the system.

Wouldn't lower marijuana prices lead to an increase in consumption, as
happened with alcohol at the end of the U.S. Prohibition era in the
1930s? I asked. Mujica said that'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 asked.

Playing the fools

"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."

When I first read Mujica's proposal to have the state "take over"
control of marijuana sales, I feared that Uruguay would create one
more inept, state-run bureaucracy filled with government cronies who
would probably smoke up the company's income or, worse, sell harder
drugs on the side. But if Mujica's plan is, as he said in the
interview, to subcontract a reputable private firm to run the business
under state regulations - much like scotch or beer companies - the
idea may not be that crazy. And the 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 reductions in consumption.
Experimenting with new weapons to weaken the cartels may be better
than doing nothing.
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MAP posted-by: Matt