Uruguay May Legalize Marijuana Trade: Does The Jose Mujica Law Mean A New Chapter In Latin American War On Drugs?
Uruguay May Legalize Marijuana Trade: Does The Jose Mujica Law Mean A New Chapter In Latin American War On Drugs?
Other leaders in Latin America will watch the results of Uruguay’s new approach to legalize the marijuana market, points out AS/COA’s Christopher Sabatini.
After more than 13 hours of debate, lawmakers in Uruguay's lower chamber headed to a vote just before midnight on Wednesday on a bill legalizing the cultivation and sale of marijuana. 50 of the chamber's 96 members - every member of the South American country's governing Broad Front coalition - voted in support of it. It will pass now to the Senate, where the Broad Front enjoys a bigger majority, then to the desk of President José Mujica, who has long fought for its passage. When he signs it, he could be turning a leaf in Latin America's war on drugs....
So does it mark a new beginning in Latin America's war on drugs?
Yes, says Christopher Sabatini, director of policy at the Americas Society and Council of the Americas. Sabatini sees it as a "crack in the consensus" of accord with the US-based, US-centric criminalizing approach to drug control. He thinks leaders in Latin America will watch Uruguay's new approach closely and with an eye on three things: one, how the law will be implemented and how the marijuana market will become formal; two, what it will mean for relations with the United States; and three, whether legalization of marijuana will free up resources to allow states to focus on other drugs and smuggling crimes, and whether law enforcement agencies will actually redirect resources toward those things.
"I think we're turned a corner here. I think we'll be looking ten years from now at a much more varied set of policies across the hemisphere when it comes to drugs," Sabatini told the Latin Times....
