Uruguay Moves Closer to Legalization of Marijuana

Uruguay is one step closer to becoming the first South American nation to legally regulate the production, distribution and sale of marijuana. 

After more than 12 hours of debate, House lawmakers voted 50 to 46 to pass the legislation, which is projected to easily pass through the Senate this October. The bill will then head to President José Mujica who voiced support for pot legalization in order to redirect police resources to fighting street crime and smugglers involved in trafficking other types of drugs, reports the New York Times. The legislation will also allow marijuana to be sold in pharmacies, and with a registry of adults 18 and older.

"If we legalize it, we think that we will spoil the market [for drug traffickers] because we are going to sell it for cheaper than it is sold on the black market," Mujica told CNN en Español last year. "And we are going to have people identified."

Conservative critics of the measure argued that it promotes drug addiction. However, pot advocates, like the Broad Front coalition of left-wing political parties, said it will fight criminal drug trafficking and marks a turning point and could influence other Latin American nations to take a similar approach.

"This implies the materialization of a new paradigm in terms of drug policies," said Lisa Sanchez, director for Latin America of Transform Drug Policy Foundation. "Uruguay will be the first country to establish effective state controls on the production, processing, distribution, storage and sale of marijuana, abandoning the prohibitionism and the punitive strategies. It is a turning point."

The goal of the bill is to create a government-run market that would "contribute to the reduction of risks and potential dangers that people who use marijuana for recreation or medical reasons face," wrote supporters in a letter sent by Mujica's government to lawmakers last year, according to CNN.

Although marijuana use is legal in Uruguay, the production and sale of the drug is not. Drug traffickers net $30 million to $40 million annually from the black market sale of pot, the government said.

"The consumption of marijuana has been allowed for 40 years, but it can only be accessed through the narcos, and requires the commission of a crime, in addition to the exposure to other drugs," the Broad Front said in a statement on its website. "We have created a great business for drug trafficking, and that is what we want to start to fight."