- Home
- Solano News
- US / World
- Opinion
- Living
- Entertainment
- Sports
- Business
- Obituaries
- Comics
- Gallery
- Classifieds
- Advertisers
- Coupons
- Contact Us
1,859
1,501
Marijuana law introduced to Uruguay congress
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay — Uruguay came one step closer to turning the government into the country’s leading pot dealer on Thursday, as lawmakers formally introduced to Congress a framework for regulating the production, sale and consumption of marijuana.
The proposal is much more liberal than what Uruguay’s government initially proposed months ago, when President Jose Mujica said only the government would be allowed to sell pot.
The draft law would instead create a National Cannabis Institute with the power to license individuals and companies to produce and sell marijuana for recreational, medicinal or industrial uses. It would foster marijuana growing clubs to provide the weed to their members. And most significantly, it would allow anyone to grow a limited amount of marijuana in their own homes, and possess marijuana for their own consumption.
“The thrust is the same, to create state-controlled markets. This provides the legal framework,” Colette Youngers, a drug policy expert at the Washington Office on Latin America who came to Montevideo to advise lawmakers and others drafting the proposal, told The Associated Press. “The main difference is that they have incorporated the idea of cultivation for personal use, and also the cannabis clubs, which was not in the initial proposal.”
Uruguay still hopes to drive big-time drug dealers out of the marijuana business and enable pot smokers to buy their weed legally without having to feed the illegal and violent industry that provides addicts with harder drugs such as cocaine and its derivatives.
It also still wants to track pot consumption through a confidential database — perhaps by giving people accounts and cards with magnetic stripes that would track purchases while concealing user’s identities, she said.
The proposed law would allow anyone to grow up to possess up to 40 grams (nearly 1.5 ounces) of pot for their own consumption, and grow six pot plants in their own homes, producing up to 480 grams (a little more than a pound) of marijuana at a time. People could join clubs of up to 15 pot smokers who together could grow up to 90 plants and stockpile 7,200 grams (254 ounces, or nearly 16 pounds) a year. The identity of pot buyers would remain protected by law.
Recent Posts
- Measuring the loss of WWII generation in 7 days
- Mankas Corner sees changes
- Police: Suspect dies after struggle with officers
- Vacaville council to discuss budget, hotel district
- Fairfield church honors military families with free event
- Aquatics center opens for holiday weekend
- Harbaugh: ‘I just don’t want to screw it up’
- Indy 500 could be better than 2012′s epic race
- Pagan wins it for Giants with inside-the-park HR
- Vacaville hosts 56th annual Fiesta Days Parade Saturday
- Can 44 subtract 43 from the equation?
- Angel Pagan
- Kroc Center hosts festival
- Memorial Day soldiers
Discussion | No comments
The Daily Republic does not necessarily condone the comments here, nor does it review every post. Read our full policy