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Uruguay moves to legalize marijuana

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31–40 of 70 posts

Re: Uruguay moves to legalize marijuana

#31
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember the Netherlands had so few criminals that it had to shut down several prisons and lay off hundreds of staff members and started importing criminals from other countries like Belgium on a contract basis because of the lack of people to incarcerate. [1] This is the country where you could just drive into its capital and buy every strain of cannabis you can possibly imagine and different strains of psilocybin…

I am not clear how there is a causal link between the two. Are you saying that legal weed/shrooms causes crime to go down? Or are you merely pointing a correlation?

Anytime you make something that people like to do legal, crime will go down as those people aren't criminals anymore. And a lot of people do weed. It's directly causal. More importantly, you destroy a huge profit center for organized crime, weed is one of the big cash crops.

Re: Uruguay moves to legalize marijuana

#33
post #3

Well, I'm from Uruguay, so I'll be glad to answer any questions on the subject :) The bill was proposed by the governing left wing Broad Front coalition, and voted by all their congressmen. While the vote appears close, there was more consensus than is shown. My party (Partido Independiente, the smallest of the four represented) decided not to vote the whole bill, but only some parts, because they're for legalization…

"There will be a monthly limit of 40 grams per person and all consumers will have to register."

Does your government limit the amount of alcohol you can purchase per month and do you have to register to buy said alcohol? Because if not, that's rather ridiculous. I personally would not want to be on any sort of registry like that.

Re: Uruguay moves to legalize marijuana

#34
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

40g a month is a lot more than I thought that a government would go for. 28g is a ounce.

40 grams per month is slightly more than one joint a day. Some people consume more than that, some less, but 40 grams a month is nowhere near the amount held by dealers.

That's some monster joints you roll there. For Dutch cannabis you would easily roll three joints out of a gram that would be enough for anyone I know.

Re: Uruguay moves to legalize marijuana

#35
post #30
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only uruguayans are allowed to buy it.

If my understanding is correct (and it very well may not be), it is similar in Amsterdam; tourists have more restrictions than locals. Their laws still seem to benefit their tourism though.

Tourists do not have more restrictions to buy it in Amsterdam. They just banned it for foreigners in the south because that is close to France and France has a drug problem. I bet their country is completely addict free by now.

Re: Uruguay moves to legalize marijuana

#36
post #33
post #3

Well, I'm from Uruguay, so I'll be glad to answer any questions on the subject :) The bill was proposed by the governing left wing Broad Front coalition, and voted by all their congressmen. While the vote appears close, there was more consensus than is shown. My party (Partido Independiente, the smallest of the four represented) decided not to vote the whole bill, but only some parts, because they're for legalization…

"There will be a monthly limit of 40 grams per person and all consumers will have to register." Does your government limit the amount of alcohol you can purchase per month and do you have to register to buy said alcohol? Because if not, that's rather ridiculous. I personally would not want to be on any sort of registry like that.

No, they don't, there are no alcohol licenses or registers or anything.

Stores don't need licenses to sell alcohol either.

We have the dubious record of being the biggest per capita consumers of Whiskey

http://elobservador.com.uy/noticia/256478/uruguay-primero-en...

Re: Uruguay moves to legalize marijuana

#37
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember the Netherlands had so few criminals that it had to shut down several prisons and lay off hundreds of staff members and started importing criminals from other countries like Belgium on a contract basis because of the lack of people to incarcerate. [1] This is the country where you could just drive into its capital and buy every strain of cannabis you can possibly imagine and different strains of psilocybin…

I am not clear how there is a causal link between the two. Are you saying that legal weed/shrooms causes crime to go down? Or are you merely pointing a correlation?

Making the use of marijuana legal means that there is no longer the crime of 'using marijuana'. You can't get a more direct causal link than that.

Re: Uruguay moves to legalize marijuana

#38
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"There will be a monthly limit of 40 grams per person and all consumers will have to register." Does your government limit the amount of alcohol you can purchase per month and do you have to register to buy said alcohol? Because if not, that's rather ridiculous. I personally would not want to be on any sort of registry like that.

No, they don't, there are no alcohol licenses or registers or anything. Stores don't need licenses to sell alcohol either. We have the dubious record of being the biggest per capita consumers of Whiskey http://elobservador.com.uy/noticia/256478/uruguay-primero-en...

I admire the progress your country has made thus far, but it seems so silly to limit the quantity you can buy. Especially considering you can overdose on alcohol and kill yourself, where you can't with marijuana.

Re: Uruguay moves to legalize marijuana

#39
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, they don't, there are no alcohol licenses or registers or anything. Stores don't need licenses to sell alcohol either. We have the dubious record of being the biggest per capita consumers of Whiskey http://elobservador.com.uy/noticia/256478/uruguay-primero-en...

I admire the progress your country has made thus far, but it seems so silly to limit the quantity you can buy. Especially considering you can overdose on alcohol and kill yourself, where you can't with marijuana.

Maybe it's to avoid foreign gangs buying up lots of legal weed and shipping it out of country.

Re: Uruguay moves to legalize marijuana

#40
post #30
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only uruguayans are allowed to buy it.

If my understanding is correct (and it very well may not be), it is similar in Amsterdam; tourists have more restrictions than locals. Their laws still seem to benefit their tourism though.

in all reporting I saw it was stated that it was for uruguayans only(although it's weird too because then will natives resell to travellers?), for Amsterdan I've always heard that tourists are allowed to buy it in one way or another at the bars or wathever it's called... still, I think the parent post is irrelevant as it takes focus out of the issue that the `war on drugs` is bad for everyone, like legalization would only serve to benefit gringoes looking for a place to party or stoners or wathever, it brings moral judgement.
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