geared Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 Uruguay 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. The government hopes it will help tackle drug cartels, but critics say it will expose more people to drugs. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-25328656 So Uruguay are attempting a different approach to tackling drug cartels in their country. I imagine the making of this law will be the enforcement of taxation, if they can get the tax money in from it all then they are onto a winner. If not then all the money will stay on the black market and in the hands of criminals, so criminal gangs will be able to operate without worrying about the law. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeX Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 Lets sit back and see how this turns out. If as many of the marijuana smoking community suggest there is nothing wrong with it, they will be vindicated, but if not, they could well have to give up in the pursuit to legalise the use and sale of marijuana in other countries for at least a generation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tzijlstra Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 I think it is interesting. Some points I would like to find out from this case based on the Dutch precedent As you probably know, in the Netherlands it is legal to smoke weed, it is legal to sell it in designated places (coffee shops, not Starbucks...) but illegal to grow it. This has always struck me as a dichotomy, either you legalise it, or you don't. Illegal growing The problem with the illegality of growing in the Netherlands lies in the fact that there are drug cartels that grow weed and as they are doing so illegally anyway, they might as well produce XTC and other drugs. Legalising weed might well have a negative impact on the availability of other drugs, alternatively due to the 'naughty factor' it might increase the demand for them and there is little indication as to which way it might go. benefits of legalising and question marks about quality of the product Although legalising weed over time has actually resulted in a significantly lower proportion of the population using it, compared to for example the USA, France, Italy and Spain, a big problem with weed is that it has become a lot stronger over the years (oddly in particular in the Netherlands, possibly as a result of the professional approach to cultivating it) will legalising growing it result in a further increase, or will it enable the government to control it? The addiction issue As someone who smoked weed during my teens I can say that it is no more harmful (probably less) than alcohol, most of my friends that I used to smoke with don't touch it any more, it is a case of been there done that. It also has fewer negative social connotations as it very rarely leads to aggression unlike alcohol and other drugs. Unfortunately in my close family I have someone who is addicted to it. It is a rare problem but it does exist. And the problem with the increasing potency levels is that it also increases potential addiction levels. The effects of the addiction are difficult to describe precisely, but general apathy and memory loss are part of the mix. Apologies for the formality of this post, been writing on a research piece all day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geared Posted December 11, 2013 Author Share Posted December 11, 2013 a big problem with weed is that it has become a lot stronger over the years (oddly in particular in the Netherlands, possibly as a result of the professional approach to cultivating it) will legalising growing it result in a further increase, or will it enable the government to control it? Well the simple thing to do would be to ban only the strong stuff but keep the rest legal. There may be a small black market for the strong stuff still, but when you consider that you could legally grow, sell and buy the normal weed the vast majority of people wouldn't bother using the illegal stuff because it's simply not worth it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tzijlstra Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 Yep I agree, it is probably right to distinguish between types of cannabis. So would you be in favour of legalisation? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geared Posted December 11, 2013 Author Share Posted December 11, 2013 Over here? I'd support a thorough investigation into it first, someone needs to get in contact with the Dutch and find out how much it is worth to the economy and what the pitfalls are. I'm sick of hearing the rubbish presented in our media, none of it ever based on any real examples. We have a perfectly good example over the channel, so why not investigate it fully??? Thats the least we could do before talking about legalisation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SevenRivers Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 Good move, we should do the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tzijlstra Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 Over here? I'd support a thorough investigation into it first, someone needs to get in contact with the Dutch and find out how much it is worth to the economy and what the pitfalls are. I'm sick of hearing the rubbish presented in our media, none of it ever based on any real examples. We have a perfectly good example over the channel, so why not investigate it fully??? Thats the least we could do before talking about legalisation. Yes I agree, although part of a much bigger debate, I do think the UK government has blinkers on too often when it comes to looking for examples in foreign states. Tax income is very low from this trade in the Netherlands, I am sure that if they legalised it fully they would slap some sort of excise on it which would make it more expensive, perhaps this would be off-set by legalising production and therefore lowering costs. Uruguay is not the first place to do this by the way, there is Utah and I believe another US state where it is legal to grow, sell and use cannabis as well now. They used the 'medicinal use' loophole. Could be a way to try things on a small scale here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geared Posted December 12, 2013 Author Share Posted December 12, 2013 They could bring it in as a treatment and see how the public respond. Things didn't go so well when it went to a Class C overe here, but that did coincide with a rapid growth in Hydroponics. Properly handled it could generate a nice boost in the economy - but you'd need a system in place for small-scale and individual growers to cultivate and sell their crops - cos if you don't criminals will still operate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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