marijuana legalization -

Colorado, Oregon, Washington or … Uruguay, who will be first?

Will 2012 be the year?

Drug policy reform is moving along in the world and 2012 might very well be the year when marijuana will become legal in some part of the world, more precisely, somewhere in the Americas.

1st legal MJ: Colorado, Oregon, Washington or … Uruguay? — Colorado, Oregon, Washington or … Uruguay?

Uruguayan President Jose Mujica is plugging along with his marijuana legalization initiative, crisscrossing his country and the airwaves with his message, calling for a broad dialog on the issue. “We must stop looking the other way: The major problem is not marijuana, it is drug trafficking.” The project is being debated in the parliament, but no date has been set for a vote. http://cnnespanol.cnn.com/2012/08/26/jose-mujica-el-problema-grave-es-el-narcotrafico-no-la-marihuana/. President Mujica received the support of various regional ex-presidents, with Cesar Gaviria of Colombia being his most vocal supporter, but was derided by ex-president Jorge Battle(of Uruguay), who on February 11, 2001, became the first head of state to call for drug legalization while still in office. Go figure. Any similarity with the Romneycare/Obamacare controversy is purely accidental of course. http://www.elobservador.com.uy/noticia/230808/batlle-proyecto-de-legalizacion-de-la-marihuana-es-para-el-libro-guiness-/

Ex-presidents Rodrigo Borja of Ecuador, and Ricardo Lagos of Chile have joined the club of anti-prohibitionist ex-heads of states. Ricardo Lagos Weber, son of the ex-president, even presented a proposal for the legalization of auto-cultivation and use of marijuana for medical purpose to the Chilean parliament, a proposal that was squarely rejected by president Sebastián Piñera http://america.infobae.com/notas/56195-Pinera-La-droga-es-muerte-dolor-sufrimiento

In the US, all three marijuana legalization initiatives on state ballots are gathering support left and right (mostly left though), including state legislators, the local democratic party and the NAACP.

Polls give a widening edge to the Colorado initiative with support growing to 47-38, and strong backing by independents. http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/main/2012/08/co-voters-favor-assault-weapons-ban-legal-pot-civil-unions.html#mor Washington fares even better with 50-37 support. The more controversial Oregon initiative is not doing too good, with negative support at 43-46. http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-19599-mari_wanna.html . While Washington and Colorado are sitting on comfortable piles of cash, Oregon is broke and could use some help. You can pitch in at Oregon campaign donations www.octa2012.com.

Put your money where your mouth is, support the marijuana legalization initiatives in all three states, Colorado http://www.regulatemarijuana.org/, Oregon www.octa2012.com and Washington http://www.newapproachwa.org. You can also spread the theme song for Colorado prop 64 http://www.regulatemarijuana.org/news/listen-yes-64-theme-song.

Each of these initiatives has its strengths and weaknesses, and none of them is perfect, but they certainly are a big step in the right direction and deserve your support.

Drug policy reform on the move: pressure building in Uruguay; Guatemala may ready another surprise; Mexican go the polls

Following the announcement on June 20 of a project to legalize and control marijuana in Uruguay, a vigorous debate has been started with proponents and opponents furbishing their weapons. The initial project of creating a national registry of users seems to have been shelved, and the idea of state-run production and retail seems to have been ruled out in favor of closely monitored private businesses. A proposal for legalization of cultivation for personal use might be folded into the new legalization proposal.

“The most important is to have a debate; this debate will take place until the law is approved, and will keep going after that, as we will need to regulate” declared Julio Calzada, secretary general of the National Drugs Board.

The international media has been generally supportive and the news have been welcomed, with the Time wondering if the rest of the world should follow.

Not everybody is pleased of course. Yury Fedotov, executive director of the UN Office on Drugs on Crime told reporters: “Should it happen of course that would be a serious violation of the Single convention and Uruguay is a party to this convention… I’m also aware that the President of the International Narcotic Control Board is planning an urgent mission to Uruguay to discuss the situation with the authorities of this country.” There is no official reaction from the US administration; drug czar Gil Kerlikowske has remained silent so far. While Guatemalan president Perez Molina warmly greeted the news, Colombia President Juan Manuel Santos, who had appeared to be favorable to open drug policy debate, was highly critical of the Uruguayan move. The Uruguayan debate must be followed closely in neighboring Brazil and Argentina where a debate on drug policy in ongoing, with Brazil scheduled to vote in July on decriminalization of possession for personal use of all drugs.

Uruguay needs our support. If you haven’t done so yet, I urge you to sign the petition in support of the marijuana legalization project in Uruguay.

If you signed already, help to promote it. Share on social networks and email.
http://www.world-war-d.com/2012/06/22/petition-in-support-of-the-controlled-legalization-of-marijuana-in-uruguay/

We need a success story in MJ legalization and Uruguay can be it. They will get a lot pressure from the UN and the US government. Let’s give them support from people from the US and everywhere. Uruguay is opening the gates and can be the very first of many. Brazil and Argentine have been debating their own drug policies for a while, they could be next. This could be the beginning of a domino effect. Uruguay is calling on the international community to consider marijuana legalization. Let’s respond to them.

In other parts of the world:

Guatemala seems to get ready for a major announcement about drug policy reform. I will keep you posted. It is time to revive our Guatemala petition http://signon.org/sign/support-guatemalan-president that had been dormant since the April 14-15 OAS summit. Please sign it if you haven’t done so, and start spreading it around you. We should have more news next week.

Governor Cuomo’s marijuana decriminalization bill was killed by his GOP opponent in NY State, but Rahm Emmanuel in Chicago handily sailed his own bill through. This would be relatively insignificant if Chicago was not Obama’s political base and if Rahm Emmanuel had not been Obama’s first chief of staff, almost his right harm. Now that his buddy Rahm Emmanuel decriminalized MJ in Chicago, and fresh from his SCOTUS healthcare victory, will Obama finally have his Marijuana moment? http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jun/13/barack-obama-marijuana-legalisation-election

The International Conference of Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Heads of Specialized National Agencies Against the World Drug Problem was held in Peru on June 25-26. See also http://www.canzarperu2012.com/

President elections will be held in Mexico this coming Sunday, July 1. All three major candidates have stayed away from the drug war issue throughout the campaign, avoiding the topic like a hot potato as the cartel violence keeps tearing the country apart. As the PRI who ruled the country for 70 years gets ready to regain the reins of power, will it resume its cozy relationship with the drug cartels? http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/23/mexico-elections-drugs-war

Jeffrey Dhywood
Investigative writer,
author of “World War D – The Case against prohibitionism, roadmap to controlled re-legalization”

Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/worldward

Follow me on Twitter: @JDhywood

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Support the proposal for marijuana legalization in Uruguay

[emailpetition id=”1″]

Haga clic aquí para versión en español

Please add your name to support marijuana legalization in Uruguay, and click to sign at the bottom of the form.

You can also tweet to the following:

Presidency of Uruguay: @SCpresidenciauy

Senator Jorge Larrañaga, @guapolarranaga, leader of Alianza Nacional

Pedro Bordaberry, @PedroBordaberry, President of the CEN colorado, was minister of Tourism and Industry in the Government of Jorge Batlle, the first head of state in the world to call for the legalization of all drugs in 2000, shortly after taking office.