Jose Mujica, 2016! His Vision for Cannabis in Uruguay

Uruguayan President Jose Mujica

Ok, let’s start a petition to allow Uruguayan nationals to become president. Actually, can we just kidnap Jose Mujica and get him on deck for 2016?

Uruguay’s president Mujica is shouting a clarion call to the other leaders of the world to legalize marijuana. “We ask the world to help us create this experience,” said Mujica. “It will allow us to adopt a sociopolitical experiment to address the serious problem of drug trafficking..the effect of the drug traffic is worse than the drug.”

Here, f*%#ing, here! I think this is a great approach to this issue. We have recently made leaps and bounds against the deluge of misinformation regarding cannabis, showing that it has medical properties and that it’s safer than Advil. But I think we can stand to make progress on the side of exposing how detrimental the black market can be.

Uruguay, however, is not a large or geopolitically charged nation. In fact, neighboring Brazil (which has the second largest illicit drug market in this hemisphere, behind only the US) is trying to pressure Uruguay to stop walking this path of legalization. It is worth noting that Brazil has largely modeled their drug policy on that of the United States. Anyone else catch that? The countries with the first and second largest black market presence employ the same failed tactics. Now this isn’t necessarily proof of causality, but I think it is worth noting. The US has taken a firm “against” stand regarding Mujica’s plan, pointing out that Uruguay still has to comply with the 1961 accord on drug control. I’m growing very bored with simply finding ways to stop progress. It is a black pock on our lawmakers.

Mujica’s response to the critics? “There is always going to be pressure, there’s an apparatus in the world that lives by repressing, and it costs a lot of money.”

It is also worth stating that Mujica is, himself, not a fan of weed. He refers to cannabis as a “vice” and he is known for his austere lifestyle. He just feels like the illicit market is already there and will continue regardless of the “drug war.” He simply wants to eliminate the criminal element. I believe it would work. Who in their right mind would pay the inflated prices and risk criminal retribution when you can get cannabis for dirt cheap from your local pharmacy? It would literally overnight gut the black market.

Under Uruguay’s plan, residents who register with the government can buy cannabis at the pharmacy and grow a small amount in their homes. He wants to limit cannabis to residents only to prevent “drug tourism” and even went so far as to say that he wants Uruguay to develop its own unique strain so that the cannabis can be tracked molecularly.

I like what Mujica has to say and I understand the hoops he has to jump through. As much as I reject the notion of registering my cannabis use with the government, if our leaders were a little more aligned with Mujica, I might soften to the idea.