Uruguay has become the first country to fully legalize the acts of growing, selling and, most importantly, smoking marijuana.
The BBC reports that after almost 12 hours of debate, the Latin American country’s senators approved the historic government-sponsored bill by a vote of 16 to 13.
Uruguay’s drug control agency will have 120 days to produce a system of regulations to oversee the country’s entire marijuana market, from seeds to plants to joints.
All pharmacy customers must be licensed and registered, and the maximum marijuana plants a license holder will be able to have in their homes will be six.
Another law allowing Uruguayan citizens over the age of 18 to buy up to 40 grams of weed per month is expected to go into effect just before April.
The government has stated that the goal of the new legislation is to eradicate the black market and drug cartels, but many believe it will only do the opposite.
The bill was first proposed by President Jose Mujica, one of the most progressive, charitable and humble world leaders alive. It was approved by Uruguay’s lower house last July.
Senator Roberto Conde called the bill an unavoidable response to the reality that the global war on drugs has most definitely failed.
“We have the duty as the state to give a specific answer to an open territory, small and non-producing,” Conde said, adding that Uruguay’s borders are regularly used by cartels to smuggle drugs into its neighboring countries.
Against the bill is the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), which warned the law would “be in complete contravention to the provisions of the international drug treaties to which Uruguay is party,” according to the BBC.
Several former high-ranking officials from other Latin American countries are pushing for marijuana to be legalized and regulated throughout the entire area, such as Brazil‘s Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Mexico‘s Ernesto Zedillo and former Colombian president Cesar Gaviria.
President Mujica, however, pointed out that these former leaders only spoke out for marijuana legalization after leaving office.
Not making Latin America’s campaigns for legalization any easier is Pope Francis, who openly criticized legal marijuana during a recent visit to Brazil.
Via: BBC, Top Photo Courtesy: Tumblr
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