Uruguay legalizes limited sales of marijuana.
| Autor | Gaudin, Andres |
More than three years after former President Jose Mujica (2010-2015) introduced the topic of drugs into the national debate, the Uruguayan government has found a way to implement his proposal to legalize the production, sale, and consumption marijuana. The legalization of marijuana sales, aimed at exploring a new way to combat illegal drug trafficking, comes exactly 43 months after Mujica opened the politically charged debate (NotiSur, Aug.3, 2012, and May 6, 2016).
On July 17, a small group of pharmacies in Uruguay began selling 5-gram envelopes of two varieties of cannabis flowers produced and regulated under state control. The agency that supervises cannabis production and use is the Instituto de Regulacion y Control del Cannabis(IRCCA), which is part of the national agency that regulates and controls drug use, the Junta Nacional de Drogas (JND). IRCCA was created by law "to order and regulate the planting, cultivation, harvesting, collecting, production, elaboration, and distribution of cannabis and its derivatives."
Purchases limited to 40 grams per month
Law 19.172 was enacted a few days before Christmas in 2013. Last year saw the implementation of the portion of the law that provides for the cultivation of the plants (six per person) for personal use and the acquisition of marijuana through membership in producer clubs of up to 45 members. On July 19, consumers were given the possibility to buy up to 10 grams of cannabis a week (40 grams a month). Each 5-gram envelope, sold only to "authorized consumers," is priced at US$6.50 (or $1.30 per gram), equivalent to about a third of the drug's black-market value. Of the $1.30 per gram price, 70% goes to the producing company, 20% to the pharmacy, and the remaining 10% goes to financing IRCCA.
Private companies authorized by the Ministry of Public Health, which guarantees strict technical supervision for the product, develop the marijuana that is sold in pharmacies.
Purchase of the marijuana is kept confidential. The personal information submitted to register as a consumer goes into an identification system that functions with a fingerprint database and is encrypted by an algorithm. The only information publicly available is whether a person is registered as a grower or a member of a cannabis club and has not exceeded the permitted monthly allowance of 40 grams per month.
The envelopes are made with two varieties of cannabis, according to IRCCA officials: Alfa-1, a hybrid with mostly...
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