Pubdate: Fri, 27 Dec 2013
Source: Salina Journal, The (KS)
Source: Salina Journal, The (KS)
Contact:  2013 The Salina Journal
Website: http://www.saljournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1752

THE URUGUAY CANARY

Uruguay has volunteered to be the canary in the cannabis field.

The small -- population 3.4 million -- Latin American nation has 
voted to legalize the growth and sale of marijuana.

The country's senate narrowly, 16-13, approved a law allowing 
individuals older than 18 to buy up to 40 grams -- just over 1.4 
ounces -- a month from state-licensed dealers. Individuals also have 
the alternative of growing up to 1.06 pounds of pot for their own 
use. The price is likely to be around $1 a gram.

The commercial planting, harvesting and sale will be under the 
control of a state Institute for the Regulation and Control of 
Cannabis. Sales will be limited to Uruguayan nationals 18 and older, 
to head off the possibility of becoming a drug tourism destination, 
and exports will be prohibited.

Uruguay's action is part of a growing sense that the U.S. war on 
drugs has been a dangerous and expensive failure that has cost the 
lives of thousands and fostered an atmosphere of lawlessness. Even 
Uruguay, which was never a major producer or consumer, saw 
drug-related homicides rise from 1 in 5 to one in three over the decade.

Shortly before he left office, Mexican President Vicente Fox, who 
battled unusually powerful and violent drug cartels, became an 
outspoken advocate for legalizing drugs, especially marijuana, whose 
cultivation he said he would take up if it ever became legal.

Diego Canepa, the chief of staff to Uruguayan President Jose Mujica, 
told The Wall Street Journal, "The war on drugs has been a failure in 
Latin America. It's been seen that the U.S. has given the dollars and 
we've given the bodies."

The Uruguayan experiment will test several theories put forward by 
advocates of legalization here and elsewhere. Proponents say that 
legalization will take much of the profit out of cultivation and thus 
the incentive for violence. The sale of marijuana at token prices 
will cut down on petty crime. And both taken together will undermine 
the drug cartels.

Our prison system has become ridiculously costly, housing inmates 
given long sentences for minor drug infractions. In areas out West, 
where marijuana has become legal under state law, the foundations of 
civilization seem to have survived -- at least so far.

Uruguay may have much to teach us.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom