Uruguay is One Step Away From Becoming The First Country to Allow the Cultivation and Distribution of Marijuana in an Attempt to Fight Drug Trafficking

Uruguay could become the first country to regulate the cultivation and distribution of marijuana on Tuesday, December 10.

José Mujica, one of the most peculiar Presidents in the world, admired by thousands for his austere living and avoiding excesses to the point where he is considered to be the poorest President in the world, and at the same time criticized for his unorthodox policies, is the main promoter of the measure that could be approved by the Senate of Uruguay on Tuesday.

According to news agency EFE, the Senate will discuss the viability of the law project that would "control and regulate the import, export, planting, harvesting, production, acquirement, commercialization, distribution and consumption of marijuana and its by-products".

Since José Mujica presented the idea of legalizing marijuana in Uruguay, the country's conservative sectors have harshly criticized the measure which, they say, would lead to massive consumption of the drug in the country.

In statements to Uruguay's Canal 4, quoted by newspaper La Nación, Mujica warned that the measure is "not pretty", but must be made to fight drug trafficking.

"This isn't a positive thing, this is like someone taking a laxative, it's a measure that is not pretty, but we don't want to give drug traffickers a free pass", the President said.

In the same interview, President Mujica pointed out there are legitimate doubts; however, he said that the drug trafficking problem requires novel solutions to fight a global problem.

With a global business that reports millions of dollars in annual profits, the war against drug trafficking in various countries looks harder to win with every passing year. According to Telemundo, the DEA's official statistics indicate that drug trafficking around the world moves more than $500,000 million dollars, with a sphere of influence that reaches politics and public safety.

78-year-old José Mujica was a member of the National Uruguay Party, which opposed the government in the 60's. In the same decade, he founded the Tupamaros National Liberation Movement, a left-wing urban guerilla.

According to a profile compiled by the BBC, during the early 70's he was arrested many times for opposing the government, and in 1973, after a Coup d'État in Uruguay, the military regime threw him in prison along with 9 others. During his time in prison, he lived in subhuman conditions and was tortured.

The same source highlights his career after receiving a pardon in 1985, and was then elected a Deputy and then a Senator in the early 2000's. In 2005 he became the Minister of Agriculture in the first left-wing government of the Frente Amplio coalition.

In 2009, he won the Presidential elections with 53 percent of the votes and despite being President, he still lives in his old house in the rural areas of Montevideo with his wife, Senator Lucía Topolansky.

According to the BBC, Mujica donates almost 90 percent of his salary to charity and in his latest statement of assets, the couple's patrimony was estimated to be about $200,000. His most prized posetions are two old Volkswagen cars and three tractors.