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Uruguay First Nation To Legalise Marijuana
MONTEVIDEO, Dec 11 (BERNAMA-NNN-MERCOPRESS) -- Uruguay's Senate has approved a ground-breaking legislation legalising marijuana in becoming the first country in the world to oversee the production and sale of the drug.
Sixteen senators from the ruling coalition out of 29 lawmakers voted Tuesday in favour of the legislation championed by President Jose Mujica who must now sign it into law.
Outside the Senate, hundreds of cannabis-smoking supporters launched fireworks in what they dubbed "the last march with illegal marijuana".
"The war against drugs has failed," said Senator Roberto Conde as he presented the bill on behalf of the ruling Broad Front, calling it an "unavoidable response" to that failure.
The bill authorises the production, distribution and sale of cannabis, allows individuals to grow their own on a small scale and creates consumer clubs -- all under state supervision and control.
Mujica, 78, has called his plan an experiment.
"There are a lot of doubts and the doubts are legitimate. But doubts shouldn't paralyse us in trying new paths to deal with this problem that has gripped us," he told Channel 4 television before the vote.
"However, we are not totally prepared. But as in everything, you have to give it a chance."
The bill goes well beyond the marijuana legalisation measures recently approved by the US states of Colorado and Washington, or the liberal laws of the Netherlands and Spain.
The measure was rejected by opposition parties and pharmacists, who are against the idea that marijuana will be sold in drug stores.
A poll taken in September found 61 per cent of the population disapprove of the law but not all users were in favour of the law, either, with some chafing at government controls.
In a region where the war on drugs has claimed thousands of lives, the Uruguayan initiative won the support of former Latin American presidents who served on the Global Commission on Drug Policy.
But the International Narcotics Control Board, which oversees the implementation of international treaties on drugs, has warned that it violates the Single Convention of Narcotic Drugs adopted in 1961 by Uruguay and 185 other countries.
-- BERNAMA-NNN-MERCOPRESS
http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v7/wn/newsworld.php?id=1000277
Whereas in Singapore?
The possession, consumption, manufacturing, import, export, or trafficking of these and other controlled drugs in any amount are illegal. Persons caught with less than the Mandatory Death Penalty amounts of these controlled substances face penalties ranging from caning (up to 24 strokes) to life in prison. Pursuant to a law change in 2009, cannabis (marijuana) and marijuana mixtures (diluted with other substances) are treated the same under Singapore law—the presumed intent is trafficking.
MONTEVIDEO, Dec 11 (BERNAMA-NNN-MERCOPRESS) -- Uruguay's Senate has approved a ground-breaking legislation legalising marijuana in becoming the first country in the world to oversee the production and sale of the drug.
Sixteen senators from the ruling coalition out of 29 lawmakers voted Tuesday in favour of the legislation championed by President Jose Mujica who must now sign it into law.
Outside the Senate, hundreds of cannabis-smoking supporters launched fireworks in what they dubbed "the last march with illegal marijuana".
"The war against drugs has failed," said Senator Roberto Conde as he presented the bill on behalf of the ruling Broad Front, calling it an "unavoidable response" to that failure.
The bill authorises the production, distribution and sale of cannabis, allows individuals to grow their own on a small scale and creates consumer clubs -- all under state supervision and control.
Mujica, 78, has called his plan an experiment.
"There are a lot of doubts and the doubts are legitimate. But doubts shouldn't paralyse us in trying new paths to deal with this problem that has gripped us," he told Channel 4 television before the vote.
"However, we are not totally prepared. But as in everything, you have to give it a chance."
The bill goes well beyond the marijuana legalisation measures recently approved by the US states of Colorado and Washington, or the liberal laws of the Netherlands and Spain.
The measure was rejected by opposition parties and pharmacists, who are against the idea that marijuana will be sold in drug stores.
A poll taken in September found 61 per cent of the population disapprove of the law but not all users were in favour of the law, either, with some chafing at government controls.
In a region where the war on drugs has claimed thousands of lives, the Uruguayan initiative won the support of former Latin American presidents who served on the Global Commission on Drug Policy.
But the International Narcotics Control Board, which oversees the implementation of international treaties on drugs, has warned that it violates the Single Convention of Narcotic Drugs adopted in 1961 by Uruguay and 185 other countries.
-- BERNAMA-NNN-MERCOPRESS
http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v7/wn/newsworld.php?id=1000277
Whereas in Singapore?
The possession, consumption, manufacturing, import, export, or trafficking of these and other controlled drugs in any amount are illegal. Persons caught with less than the Mandatory Death Penalty amounts of these controlled substances face penalties ranging from caning (up to 24 strokes) to life in prison. Pursuant to a law change in 2009, cannabis (marijuana) and marijuana mixtures (diluted with other substances) are treated the same under Singapore law—the presumed intent is trafficking.
