Uruguayan President Jose Mujica has signed into law legislation making Uruguay the first country to create a legal, state-regulated marijuana industry. Mujica quietly signed the bill Monday night, the Associated Press reported.
Government officials now have 120 days to craft regulations for the marijuana market. Those regulations will deal with everything from growing to selling it in a network of pharmacies, as well as establishing rules around collective grows. The world's first fully legal, government-regulated marijuana marketplace should be up and running by mid-year next year.
But in the meantime, people can now begin growing their own marijuana at home -- up to six plants per family -- and keep an annual harvest of up to 480 grams (about one pound and one ounce).
Uruguay's neighbors are already beginning to take note. The governments of Argentina and Chile have already signaled that they will be taking new looks at marijuana policy in the wake of the Uruguayan move.
XMAS
Rudolph the redbud reindeer . How it shined so glistfully . ..................................
Noble Peace Prize for President Mujica
Let's not get too excited.
Let's not get too excited. This is a small step in the right direction. A VERY small step. What the government of Uruguay is NOT saying is, "It's none of our business what you put into your own body, or where you get it, as long as you've done so peacefully." No, they're saying, "We're graciously allowing you to smoke pot, as long as you pay all the prescribed tributes to your rulers." That still makes Jose Mujica a criminal in my book, and if he sends out any thugs to bust someone for, say, selling pot without giving the government a cut, those thugs deserve to be stopped by whatever means prove to be necessary.
Let's not minimize it's significance either
The first country in the world to tell the UN treaty to get lost. Mujica doesn't even have public support in Uruguay for going this far (unless public opinion in Uruguay has changed dramatically in the last year) so I'm not inclined to criticize him for not going further. He's a hero in my book, despite the flaws in his reform.
And yes, I also think the Nobel Peace Prize would be appropriate. Unlike the other Nobel prizes the Peace prize is awarded by a committee appointed by the Norwegian Parliament, not Sweden's. Sweden is notoriously hardnosed about weed, but just maybe he's got a shot with the Norwegians, Hopefully he'll at least get nominated.
Do you have a source for that statement?
That''s very hard to believe. They are a puritanical regime.
North Korea is involved in drug dealing, to earn hard currency. One more reason to legalize, to keep that dreadful dictatorship from making windfall profits from the war on users of selected drugs..
What he says about North Korea is correct
It is true that marijuana is legal in North Korea. Al-Jazeera once gave a map before Uruguay legalized marijuana showing which countries had legal marijuana and North Korea was the only one colored in as legal. Go to Wikipedia and look up the legal status of marijuana around the world and you will find North Korea listed as having legal Marijuana. Russ Bellville mentions it in his blog and there have been reporters who have recently traveled to North Korea (I forget the name of that blog) who confirm the fact. whatever your feelings about North Korea on other issues the evidence is out there that confirms the fact that cannabis is legal in North Korea. This issue should be separated from the issue of socialism and any number of other issues regarding North Korea. We can celebrate the legality of cannabis in North Korea without addressing any of these other issues.
Yeah, I looked into it after I made my comment
I stand corrected. Amazing but true. North Korea is hell on earth, but the top dogs let ordinary folks use weed to make it bearable.
It fits, with a twist, into the hard left view that weed is no different from booze, they are both 'opiate of the masses' drugs with the useful function of creating political apathy, which impedes organized resistance to the ruling class. The twist here being that the ruling class isn't those bad old capitalists, it's the faux communists lording it over North Korea.
From my point of view, marijuana can raise people's awareness of what's going on within and around them, and I hope the degenerates ruling North Korea have miscalculated the longer term effects of allowing weed.
They tried to stop people
They tried to stop people from chewing coca leaves,but Evo Morales & his people won their rights continue their ancient tradition.
The UN?
Post new comment