Legal adult marijuana sales began in Uruguay on Wednesday, making it the first country in the world to establish a regulated market for the product. This follows previous phases of legalization permitting growers’ clubs and home cultivation.

Official sales have been long awaited following a legalization proposal put forward by former President José Mujica in 2012. This was given final approval by Parliament in December 2013 — legally regulating the production, distribution, and sale of marijuana — but has taken longer than expected to implement following a presidential election in 2015 and delays in funding for the regulatory authority.

Under the Uruguay model, the market is very much state-led. Two private firms — Symbiosis and the International Cannabis Corp. — have licenses to grow, package, and distribute marijuana, but production is capped to 400 tons annually (estimated to be around 15% of current consumption). These firms are not allowed to market the product, and the government determines the genetic makeup and THC content.

Legal sales take place in pharmacies in five-gram packages sold for 187 Uruguayan pesos ($6.50), with two products on offer: ‘Alfa 1’ and ‘Beta 1’. Only citizens and legal permanent residents aged 18 and older are allowed to purchase marijuana, and they must register with the government to do so. So far, almost 5,000 individuals have done so.

The introduction of this regulated market has been closely monitored and implemented, with the government taking measures to avoid creating a hub for marijuana tourism. All forms of advertising have been banned, and the production of infused edibles is prohibited. Additionally, consumers are limited to purchasing 40 grams a month — an amount monitored by fingerprint scans at every sale.

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[caption id="attachment_7153" align="alignright" width="253"] Pres. Jose Mujica[/caption]

Jose Mujica is not a man who compromises his beliefs. Before he became President of Uruguay, he was shot six times and spent fourteen years in a dungeon-like military prison. Now he lives a modest lifestyle, donates most of his income to social projects, and resides in a one-bedroom farmhouse with his wife, Congresswoman and former acting President of Uruguay, Lucia Topolansky. President Mujica, once known as the world’s poorest President (a nickname he is not fond of), is becoming known for something else - regulating marijuana.

Now that President Mujica’s bill has been made law, Uruguay is facing international opposition. Last week, the United Nations released a statement explaining its position - that Uruguay has violated a U.N. drug convention and not considered the facts about marijuana. Unfortunately, the U.N.I.S. statement is riddled with misconceptions and, as President Mujica would say, lies.

Not only has the International Narcotics Control Board shown ignorance to the science of marijuana usage, but also it has lied about Uruguay’s willingness to work with the U.N., according to President Mujica.

“Tell this old guy not to lie,” Mujica told reporters, according to Colombian daily El Espectador. “Any guy in the street can meet with me. Let him come to Uruguay and meet with me whenever he wants… He thinks that because he’s in an international position, he can tell whatever lie he wants.”

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The INCB president said on Wednesday he was “surprised” that the Uruguayan government “knowingly decided to break the universally agreed and internationally endorsed legal provisions of the treaty.

But Mujica dismissed the criticism as a double standard, pointing out that the U.S. states of Colorado and Washington have already legalized weed and that both of the states’ populations individually exceed Uruguay’s 3.4 million inhabitants.

“Do they have two discourses, one for Uruguay and another for those who are strong?” Mujica asked.

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Uruguay and its President, Jose Mujica, have been making headlines recently for legislation to regulate the marijuana market. President Mujica has been determined to pass the law, supporting the movement throughout the legislative process and defending the policy to opponents both in his own country and abroad. Now that the law has passed, Uruguay is facing pressure from the U.N., which accuses the legislature of violating an international convention.

The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961 essentially bans countries from allowing the consumption or production of specific drugs, except for medical or research purposes. The United Nations Information Service has released a document explaining how Uruguay is violating the convention.

According to the President, “the decision of the Uruguayan legislature fails to consider its negative impacts on health since scientific studies confirm that cannabis is an addictive substance with serious consequences for people’s health. In particular, the use and abuse of cannabis by young people can seriously affect their development.”

Cannabis is not only addictive but may also affect some fundamental brain functions, IQ potential, and academic and job performance and impair driving skills. Smoking cannabis is more carcinogenic than smoking tobacco.

The health claims of the U.N.I.S. are without merit. Studies into marijuana’s effect on the body show that it is safer than alcohol and has fewer long-term effects than tobacco. Furthermore, contrary to what Mr. Yans states, marijuana is not linked with cancer, unlike tobacco, which causes more than five million deaths per year.

The current U.N. drug policy and the 1961 Convention are not compatible with an evidence-based approach to drug policy. Luckily, Uruguay is not the only country looking to reform the world’s approach to marijuana. Recently, there has been evidence that the U.N. is losing support for the war on drugs. Hopefully, international policy can be adapted to reflect current knowledge surrounding marijuana and the consequences of prohibition. Until then, Uruguay and other countries looking to regulate marijuana may find an enemy in the U.N.

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President Jose Mujica has been busy defending his bill to regulate the marijuana market in Uruguay. First he asked the world to help him end marijuana prohibition, and now he is asking his country’s own politicians to understand the bill. As the bill approaches its final vote, which will be held in the full Uruguayan Senate, conservative opposition is calling for a referendum if the bill passes. Gerardo Amarilla, a member of the National Party and a conservative Member of Parliament has voiced his concern in interviews with media, stating that public opinion shows the bill is the wrong solution to the country’s drug problem. President Mujica has responded by explaining that the bill does not condone drug use, but seeks to monitor the market and protect Uruguayans.

We are not legalising cannabis,

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We are regulating a market that already exists. We didn't invent this market, it already exists, today, here. We are trying to regulate and intervene in this market because trafficking is worse than drugs.

President Mujica’s Deputy Secretary, Diego Canepa, has made similar remarks explaining the policy.

We are convinced that to achieve our objectives, which is to fight addictions, the regulated marijuana market will give us help and logic that we are bringing to several issues. Does it mean that by creating a regulated market for marijuana, we are liberalising something? On the contrary, international experience suggests that a regulated market that is made visible has greater controls than prohibition. [MPP emphasis added]

The proposed bill is expected to pass the vote easily in the full Senate. Although some conservative leaders have called for a referendum after the bill’s passage, the chances of a successful referendum are small.    

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[caption id="attachment_7115" align="alignright" width="108"] Pres. Jose Mujica[/caption]

Just one Senate vote stands between President Mujica and ending marijuana prohibition in Uruguay.  In July the bill passed the house, last week it passed a Senate committee, and soon it is expected to pass a vote in the full Uruguayan Senate.  Now, President Mujica is turning his attention outside of his country, and is asking the rest of the world to help him make the law reality.

“We ask the world to help us create this experience,” Mujica told A Folha de São Paulo during an interview at his farm outside Montevideo. “It will allow us to adopt a socio-political experiment to address the serious problem of drug trafficking…the effect of the drug traffic is worse than the drug.”

Uruguay has faced resistance and criticism for its plan to end marijuana prohibition, particularly from Brazil and the United States, who have the two largest illicit drug markets in the hemisphere. The US State Department has said that Uruguay would be violating the United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961 by allowing marijuana use, possession, and distribution.

Sound familiar? It should, because it is the same convention that the UN accused the US of violating when Washington and Colorado passed laws to regulate adult marijuana use. Attorney General Eric Holder held that individual states were not bound by the international agreement, and allowed Washington and Colorado to proceed with their laws. Now the US is using the same convention to pressure Uruguay to maintain its marijuana prohibition. But, luckily for Uruguay, President Mujica is not easily discouraged.

“There’s always going to be pressure,” Mujica said. “There’s an apparatus in the world that lives by repressing, and it costs a lot of money.”

Himself famous for his austere lifestyle, Mujica said he didn’t care for marijuana, describing the soft drug as a “vice.” But he added that his intention is to regulate an illicit market that already exists. “The repressive path has failed,” Mujica said.

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As a bill to regulate and tax marijuana comes closer to the Uruguayan Senate, public support for the bill seems to be growing. The bill was approved by the Uruguayan House of Representatives on July 31,2013 and is supported by Uruguayan President José Mújica. However, the majority of the Uruguayan public is still opposed to the bill.

Sixty-five percent of Uruguayans polled said that they would sign a petition for a referendum if the law were approved.  However, in order for a referendum to appear on a ballot, 25% of the public must turn out for a preliminary vote. This means that the chances of a successful referendum are small. This past June, a referendum failed against a controversial abortion law after it was only able to draw 8.8% of the public for a similar preliminary vote.

The Uruguayan Senate is expected to pass the bill, which would make Uruguay the first country to end marijuana prohibition on a national level.

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The Uruguayan House of Representatives voted yesterday to approve a bill that would tax and regulate marijuana for adults. The measure will now move to the Senate where, if it passes as expected, will make Uruguay the first country in the world to create a fully legal and regulated marijuana market.

All 50 members of the ruling Broad Front coalition approved the measure yesterday after more than 13 hours of passionate debate. Lawmakers in the Senate have stated that they have achieved a comfortable majority in favor of the bill.

“Uruguay appears poised, in the weeks ahead, to become the first nation in modern times to create a legal, regulated framework for marijuana,” said John Walsh, a drug policy expert at the Washington Office on Latin America. “In doing so, Uruguay will be bravely taking a leading role in establishing and testing a compelling alternative to the prohibitionist paradigm.”

Legalizing marijuana has been a popular anti-drug trafficking strategy for some of Uruguay’s most prominent political figures. President José Mújica has been a staunch, long-time advocate for replacing marijuana prohibition with taxation and regulation.

If the bill passes, Uruguayans over the age of 18 would be allowed to buy a limited amount of marijuana per month from state-sanctioned distributors.

Predictably, the International Narcotics Control Board, which oversees United Nations drug policy, is not amused.

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