• Guatemalan president applauds Uruguayan pot legalization vote

    The region desperately needs a change of course from the international anti-drug policy promoted by the United States for the past 40 years.
    Tico Times (Costa Rica)
    Domingo, 4 de agosto, 2013

    Perez-Molina-and-Pena-Nieto_newsfull_hGuatemalan President Otto Pérez Molina has called last week’s approval by Uruguayan lawmakers in the lower house of the legalization of recreational marijuana an “important step” in the fight against international drug trafficking. Pérez Molina said the initiative – which if passed by the Senate would task the Uruguayan government with the production and sale of marijuana – opens “a new space for discussion” on the merits of legalization of illicit drugs.

  • Ganja legalisation gaining traction

    Editorial
    The Gleaner (Jamaica)
    Saturday, August 3, 2013

    marijuana_leaf1The world is watching, with keen eyes, as legislators in Montevideo inch ever so close to making Uruguay the first country ever to legalise the production, sale and use of ganja. The bill narrowly passed the lower House Thursday, by a 50 to 46 vote, and is expected to be successful in the Senate later this year.

  • The experiment

    Another blow against prohibition
    The Economist (UK)
    Saturday, August 3, 2013

    cannabis_leafAfter more than a year’s public deliberation and a 14-hour parliamentary debate, on July 31st Uruguay took a big step to becoming the first country in the world to legalise marijuana (cannabis). The lower house of Congress voted on party lines, by 50 to 46, to approve a bill from the left-wing Broad Front government to legalise and regulate the production and sale of the drug.

  • Uruguay's Marijuana Regulation Bill Passes in Lower House

    Despite the release of a poll showing that roughly two-thirds of Uruguay opposes the measure, on Wednesday night lawmakers voted to move the country one step closer to being the first in the world to regulate the production, sale, and consumption of marijuana
    Geoffrey Ramsey
    Open Society Institute's Latin America Program
    Friday, August 2, 2013

    Legalizar2013The week got off to an ominous start on Monday with the release of a survey by Cifra, Uruguay's leading pollster, showing that around two-thirds of the country has remained consistently opposed to marijuana regulation since it was first proposed a year ago. The poll found that 63 percent of over 1,000 respondents from around the country said they were in disagreement with "the bill to regulate the cultivation and consumption of marijuana in Uruguay," as the initiative was presented. Just 26 percent said they were in favor of it. This is identical to the degree of support it had in December 2012, when President Jose Mujica halted the bill's progress and called for a national debate on the matter after the release of a Cifra poll on December 18.

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  • Online activists take on police in Christiania

    Fundraising campaign to pay possession fines is the newest weapon in the online fight against growing police presence in freetown
    The Copenhagen Post (Denmark)
    August 2, 2013

    In response to the increased police presence in and around Christiania, a number of citizens are fighting back online. Fans of Christiania have long been using a Facebook page, 'Politi razzia på Christiania?' (PRPC), to inform one another of police presence in the freetown. The page has well over 9,000 likes and also been developed into an app for smartphones that allows people to check for police presence before heading to Christiania. The page was created in response to Taskforce Pusher Street.

  • Uruguay poised to legalize marijuana: Is this the right way forward?

    Vatican Radio
    Friday, August 2, 2013

    cannabis-leafUruguay is poised to become the first nation in the world to create a legal, regulated marijuana market. .. but is this the right way forward? Martin Jelsma is a leading expert on Latin America and international drugs policies. He told Vatican Radio's Susy Hodges that he's in favour of the new law in Uruguay and says it is not intended to liberalize the cannabis market but instead regulate it.

     

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  • What Legalizing Pot In Uruguay Means For the World

    This small Latin American country is now on the forefront of global drug policy reform
    Ethan Nadelmann
    Time Magazine (US)
    Friday, August 2, 2013

    biz_marijuana_0601Late Wednesday night, following months of intensive debate and negotiation, the Uruguayan House of Representatives passed a bill to legalize marijuana. If approved by the Senate, President José Mujica will certainly sign it, at which point Uruguay will become the first country in the world to replace its marijuana prohibition law with a legal regulatory system.

  • Uruguay votes to create world's first national legal marijuana market

    Proposals likely to become law, leading to innovative policies at odds with the 'war on drugs' philosophy
    The Guardian (UK)
    Thursday August 1st, 2013

    Uruguayan-MPs-vote-throug-008Uruguay's unprecedented plan to create a legal marijuana market has taken its critical first step in the lower house of Congress. All 50 members of the ruling Broad Front coalition approved the proposal just before midnight on Wednesday in a party line vote, keeping a narrow majority of the 96 MPs present after more than 13 hours of passionate debate.

  • Global trendsetter? Uruguay moves to legalize marijuana

    Marijuana legalization: Uruguay's lower house of parliament set a global first by voting to give the state control of marijuana production, distribution, and sales
    The Christian Science Monitor
    Thursday, August 1, 2013

    0801-world-ouruguay_full_380Uruguay has effectively sealed the passage of a groundbreaking marijuana legalization bill that puts production, distribution, and sale of the drug in the hands of the state, making it the first country ever to do so. After a 13-hour debate, politicians in the lower house of parliament voted late last night in favor of the controversial initiative, which is similar to laws approved last year in Colorado and Washington State. The upper house is expected to follow suit.

  • Legalization of marijuana seeks to protect teens and minor addicts from addiction - expert

    Roman Kozarev
    The Voice of Russia (Russia)
    Thursday, August 1, 2013

    Voice-of-RussiaUruguay's House of Representatives has passed a bill to legalize marijuana by 50 of the 96 MPs following 13 hours of tough debates. Now the bill is to be approved by the Senate to make Uruguay the first country to regulate the production, distribution and sale of marijuana. President Jose Mujica believes that the measure will remove profits from drug dealers and divert users from harder drugs. Martin Jelsma, the Coordinator of Drugs & Democracy program at Transnational Institute in Amsterdam, shared his thoughts on the new legislation with the Voice of Russia.

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