• Uruguay's Prez rips into UN official over marijuana law: 'Stop lying'

    The Huffington Post (US web)
    Friday, December 13, 2013

    mujica2Uruguay's President Mujica shot back at the president of the International Narcotics Control Board, a U.N. agency, for saying that his administration refused to meet with the agency’s officials before legalizing marijuana. Mujica batted down the criticism, insisting that his administration is open to discussing the law and accusing the INCB President Raymond Yans of applying a double standard by criticizing Uruguay, even as U.S. states pass laws to legalize recreational marijuana consumption. "Tell this old guy not to lie," Mujica said.

  • Weed all about it

    Uruguay's cannabis law
    The Economist (UK)
    Wednesday, December 11, 2013

    TheEconomist“A critical turning point in the failed war against drugs,” is the verdict of Martin Jelsma of the Drugs and Democracy Programme at the Transnational Institute, an Amsterdam-based think-tank. On December 10th Uruguay’s Senate approved a law that not only legalised marijuana use but also regulated its production and sale. Others have gone down this route before: the American states of Colorado and Washington legalised marijuana for recreational use in 2012. But Uruguay is the first country to do so.

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  • Heroic Uruguay deserves a Nobel peace prize for legalising cannabis

    The war on the war on drugs is the only war that matters. Uruguay's stance puts the UN and the US to shame
    Simon Jenkins
    The Guardian (UK)
    Thursday, December 12, 2013

    The response of the UN's International Narcotics Control Board to Uruguay's new drug regime has been to incant futile bromides. According to its chief Raymond Yans cannabis regulation would "endanger young people and contribute to the earlier onset of addiction". It would also be in breach of a "universally agreed and internationally endorsed treaty". Yet the UN admits that half a century of attempted suppression has led to 162m cannabis users worldwide, or 4% of the total adult population .

  • Finally, a nation legalizes pot

    Uruguay's leaders chose regulation of an existing reality, which also fights crime
    Hannah Hetzer
    CNN (US)
    Wednesday, December 11, 2013

    uruguay-bandera-marihuanaIn a closely watched vote, Uruguayan lawmakers approved a proposal to make recreational marijuana legal for adults and to regulate its production, distribution and sale. Once it's signed by President Jose Mujica, who initiated the proposal, Uruguay will be the first nation in the world to fully legalize the drug. The world should take a lesson from this tiny country with a history of political reform. (See also: Uruguay’s pioneering cannabis regulation marks the tipping point in the failed war on drugs)

  • Uruguay becomes first nation to legalise marijuana trade

    The Uruguayan government hopes legalising the sale of marijuana will tackle drug cartels
    BBC News (UK)
    Wednesday, December 11, 2013

    Legaliza2013Uruguay has become the first country in the world to make it legal to grow, sell and consume marijuana. After nearly 12 hours of debate, senators gave the government-sponsored bill their historic final approval. The law allowing registered Uruguayans over 18 to buy up to 40g (1,4oz) of the drug a month is not expected to come into force before April.


  • Uruguay legalizes pot, recasting drug war

    Senate vote gives government monopoly over pot sales and distribution
    Wall Street Journal (US)
    Tuesday, December 10, 2013

    uruguay-libertad-creceThe Uruguay Senate approved a bill to legalize marijuana and put its trade into state hands, in what many experts said marks a new model for the war on drugs in its principal battleground of Latin America. President José Mujica plans to sign the bill, which passed the lower house of Congress in July, into law. A Uruguayan state agency will oversee the distribution and sale of marijuana. The goal is to cut out drug trafficking and reduce the violence associated with it.

  • Uruguay’s pioneering cannabis regulation marks the tipping point in the failed war on drugs

    Press release by TNI
    Tuesday, December 10, 2013

    Uruguay’s senate voted today (10 December) to approve the world’s first national legal framework regulating the cultivation, trade and consumption of cannabis for medical, industrial as well as recreational purposes. The historical vote is expected to inspire and spread cannabis reform initiatives around the world and to have a major impact on upcoming UN-level drug policy evaluations.

    Download the press release (PDF)

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  • ‘Het Nederlandse systeem heeft gaten’

    Uruguay stemt vandaag over de meest liberale wietwetgeving ter wereld. Verkoop én teelt worden legaal
    NRC (Netherlands)
    Dinsdag, 10 december, 2013

    SabiniInterview Sebastián Sabini: "Het gaat ons om een totaalaanpak. Legalisering moet samengaan met preventie, met voorlichting en een sterke naleving van de regels. Wiet moet geen commercieel product worden als Coca-Cola, waarvan de reclames je vertrellen dat je er mooi en gelukkig van wordt terwijl het ongezond is. Nederland is een voorbeeld, vooral vanwege de voorlichting. Maar jullie systeem heeft gaten. Omdat de teelt illegaal is."

  • Harvard: Marijuana doesn’t cause schizophrenia

    While cannabis may have an effect on the age of onset of schizophrenia it is unlikely to be the cause of illness
    Psych Central (US)
    Tuesday, December 10, 2013

    New research from Harvard Medical School, in a comparison between families with a history of schizophrenia and those without, finds little support for marijuana use as a cause of schizophrenia. “The results of the current study suggest that having an increased familial morbid risk for schizophrenia may be the underlying basis for schizophrenia in cannabis users and not cannabis use by itself,” note the researchers.

  • Women of the Colombian Drug Wars

    Zoraida Lopez
    World Policy Institute (US)
    Monday, December 9, 2013

    WomenColombiaDrugWarBetween 1998 and 2008, approximately one million acres of Colombian land was used for the cultivation of coca leaves, the main ingredient used to produce cocaine... This has led to a loss of land, forced displacement, kidnappings, massacres, and countless disappearances, which in turn have left thousands of children, including many girls, without homes or parents. The cocaine market has also produced the “mule,” a term to describe individuals at the lowest level of the drug trading hierarchy.

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