International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) condemned Uruguay’s vote to legalize the production, sale and consumption of marijuana for those over the age of 18 yesterday. According to INCB President Raymond Yans, Uruguay has “knowingly decided to break the universally-agreed and internationally-endorsed treaty” with a decision that would endanger Uruguayan youth and “contribute to the earlier onset of addiction.” Uruguay is a party to the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, which requires states to use marijuana only for medical and scientific purposes.
The reaction from the United Nations-affiliated INCB comes one day after the Uruguayan Senate passed a historic legalization bill. While The Netherlands, Canada, Israel, and the states of Colorado and Washington allow for legal medical or recreational use of marijuana, Uruguay will be the first country to also allow for the growth and trade of the substance.
President José Mujica, a former guerilla whose liberal-leaning government also approved bills to legalize abortions and same-sex marriage, has asserted that the legalization of marijuana will help to eradicate drug trafficking throughout the country and the violence associated with it. The country will set up a drug control board to regulate the marijuana industry in 120 days.
However, the legalization of marijuana is not without its restrictions. Under the new legislation, Uruguayan citizens who are 18 years or older will be permitted to keep up to six plants and produce no more than 480 grams of marijuana a year. Producers, vendors, and consumers will also be required to officially register with the government, who will monitor their usage. Tourists to Uruguay will not be permitted to produce or consume the substance.
Both domestic as well as external opinion is divided on the bill, but several Latin American leaders, including Guatemalan President Otto Pérez Molina, former Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso and former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo have supported the legalization and regulation of marijuana.
