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UN Drug Bureaucrats Fret About Uruguay's Marijuana Legalization

Submitted by Phillip Smith on (Issue #810)

Uruguay is blowing off the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) as it prepares to become the first country to legalize marijuana commerce, and the INCB is "concerned." The South American nation failed to send a delegation to Vienna to listen to the INCB complain about its plans.

INCB President Raymond Yans is "concerned" about Uruguay (incb.org)
"The INCB has noted with concern that the Government of Uruguay was unable to send a delegation to the just concluded INCB session to discuss the status of the country's compliance with the international drug control conventions," the global anti-drug bureaucrats complained.

The INCB is also "very concerned that the draft legislation currently being considered in Uruguay would, if adopted, legalize production, sale and consumption of cannabis for recreational purposes."

"This would be in contravention of the 1961 Convention on Narcotic Drugs, which has been adopted by 186 countries, including Uruguay," said INCB President Raymond Yans. "Cannabis is controlled due to its dependence-producing potential, and the current development in Uruguay, if pursued, would have serious repercussions for public health, particularly for youth, and would be in violation of the United Nations international drug control treaties."

Uruguay's marijuana legalization bill, backed by President Jose Mujica, has already passed the lower house of parliament and is set for a vote soon in the upper house. Since the governing party has majorities in both houses, passage is seen as extremely likely.

The INCB complained earlier this year when the bill passed the lower house, but that has not deterred Uruguay from moving forward. Neither will this latest volley from Geneva, but the INCB refuses to give up.

"The INCB looks forward to Uruguay resuming its dialogue with the Board at the earliest possible opportunity, prior to further consideration of the draft legislation in the country," Yans said hopefully.

Permission to Reprint: This content is licensed under a modified Creative Commons Attribution license. Content of a purely educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of DRCNet Foundation, unless otherwise noted.

Comments

Justin Auldphart (not verified)

What would Mr. Yans do for a living if the rest of the world followed Uruguay's good sense?...Of course he, and all the others on the Prohibition teat are fretting....

Wed, 11/20/2013 - 8:19am Permalink
nben (not verified)

Really?  I would think the UN has enough on their plates these days than having to worry about a country legalizing Cannabis.  Worry about the thousands of horrible things going on, not one country's novel approach to controlling the use of a plant.  Maybe they are afraid the rest of the world will finally realize how ridiculous this "war" is??

Wed, 11/20/2013 - 12:26pm Permalink
Giordano (not verified)

The INCB has no evidence to demonstrate that legalizing marijuana for adult recreational consumption in Uruguay will have any effect whatsoever on children’s health.  Nothing in any country that’s made marijuana legally consumable by adults, in some quasi-legal fashion, shows any recognizable uptick in pot smoking by adolescents, or any kind of downward health trend among citizens of any age.

The INCB advocates on behalf of nations that oppress and terrorize their poor.  It supports a campaign of social genocide against dissidents, artistically-minded non-conformists, and people who seek little more than stress-relief, sensual enhancement, an occasional altered state of consciousness as an ongoing antidote to corrupt and dysfunctional economic and social systems.  The INCB consistently fails to condemn executions for drug crimes perpetrated by totalitarian regimes.

Prohibition is tyranny for the sake of tyranny.  Tyrants love the chained mind.  Someone incapable of realizing when they’re being cheated of their right to be human makes that person a select tool for oppressing and exploiting others.  The resulting legal infrastructure of prohibition creates a ship of fools that provides a platform for the erosion of all human rights.  The drug exception to the U.S. Constitution, the decline in 4th, 5th and 8th Amendment legal protections, all these things exemplify the INCB’s work as an enemy of the people, whether in the U.S. or elsewhere.

The United Nations needs to choose between human rights and the INCB.  The two choices are mutually exclusive.  It's one or the other.

Wed, 11/20/2013 - 3:41pm Permalink
Alexander Dowding (not verified)

These people in the INCB are dinosaurs of an era and paradigm that soon will cease to exist. They should be replaced by the younger more open minded and freedom conscious generation. People who can innovate and who take human rights seriously.

THE UNITED NATIONS MUST STOP PUSHING ITS FAILED DRUG WAR ON US. It does nothing to stop people using drugs, enriches criminals and destroys countless families around the globe every year.

They are a force for evil and corruption in the world, not as they may claim, a force for good!
 

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 12:25pm Permalink
Ked (not verified)

Nobody could create a worldwide petition on avaaz or else for disband INCB and stop the war on drug on marijuana?

my english writing is shit and i dont have enough vocabulary for doing that ...

Fri, 11/22/2013 - 8:50am Permalink

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