That man strikes again .... President Jose Mujica, possibly the coolest politician on the planet, wins yet another vote from this blog for daring to think the unthinkable and starting the process of making pot in Uruguay legal.
He's thought it through, decided that the current drug laws for Marijuana, only make criminals of the users, billionaires out of the smugglers, and have corrupted the state, and has asked his parliament to pass a law that would allow the state to assume "the control and regulation of the importation, exportation, plantation, cultivation, the harvest, the production, the acquisition, the storage, the commercialisation and the distribution of cannabis and its by-products".
Buyers would have to be registered on a database and be over the age of 18. They would be able to buy up to 40g (1.4oz) per month in specially licensed pharmacies or grow up to six plants at home.
Good on him, I don't take these kind of drugs anymore (just the legal ones), but may have risked it when younger .... its something most of us grow out of. There would have to be safeguards against driving or flying etc while out of their heads (like alcohol in fact), but other than that, why not try another way?
Portugal is trying something similar right now with some success .... but we in the Anglo Saxon world sure as hell ain't winning the current war on drugs as we are right now .....
He's thought it through, decided that the current drug laws for Marijuana, only make criminals of the users, billionaires out of the smugglers, and have corrupted the state, and has asked his parliament to pass a law that would allow the state to assume "the control and regulation of the importation, exportation, plantation, cultivation, the harvest, the production, the acquisition, the storage, the commercialisation and the distribution of cannabis and its by-products".
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| President Jose Mujica - Doesn't Smoke Joints |
Buyers would have to be registered on a database and be over the age of 18. They would be able to buy up to 40g (1.4oz) per month in specially licensed pharmacies or grow up to six plants at home.
Good on him, I don't take these kind of drugs anymore (just the legal ones), but may have risked it when younger .... its something most of us grow out of. There would have to be safeguards against driving or flying etc while out of their heads (like alcohol in fact), but other than that, why not try another way?
Portugal is trying something similar right now with some success .... but we in the Anglo Saxon world sure as hell ain't winning the current war on drugs as we are right now .....
Yes, at some point principles and protecting citizens against themselves has to give way to pragmatism, especially when, arguably, more harmful drugs are legal.
ReplyDeleteLooks like Mexico wants to try the same route, and who can blame them considering the thousands killed in the drug wars.
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