An activist smokes a marijuana cigarette as they poses for photos in front of the Congress in Montevideo, Uruguay, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2013. Uruguay鈥檚 Senate approved the world鈥檚 first national marketplace for legal marijuana Tuesday, an experiment that puts the government in charge of growing, selling and using a drug that is illegal almost everywhere else. AP
MONTEVIDEO鈥擴ruguay鈥檚 Senate has approved ground-breaking legislation legalizing marijuana, becoming the first nation in the world to oversee the production and sale of the drug.
After a marathon debate, 16 leftist senators out of 29 lawmakers voted Tuesday in favor 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 鈥渢he last march with illegal marijuana.鈥�
鈥淭he war against drugs has failed,鈥� said Senator Roberto Conde as he presented the bill on behalf of the ruling leftist Broad Front, calling it an 鈥渦navoidable response鈥� to that failure.
The bill passed the lower house of Congress in August and was assured of approval because the ruling coalition controls both chambers.
It authorizes the production, distribution and sale of cannabis, allows individuals to grow their own on a small scale, and creates consumer clubs鈥攁ll under state supervision and control.
Mujica, a 78-year-old former leftist guerrilla fighter, has called his plan an experiment. 鈥淭here are a lot of doubts and the doubts are legitimate,鈥� he told Channel 4 television before the vote.
鈥淏ut doubts shouldn鈥檛 paralyze us in trying new paths to deal with this problem that has gripped us.鈥�
However, he added: 鈥淲e are not totally prepared. But as in everything, you have to give it a chance.鈥�
The legislation has caused unease in neighboring Brazil and Argentina.
The bill goes well beyond the marijuana legalization measures recently approved by the US states of Colorado and Washington, or the similarly liberal laws of the Netherlands and Spain.
Consumers over 18 will be able to grow their own marijuana, though no more than six plants per person. They can also get it through clubs or buy up to 40 grams per month from pharmacies.
In every case, they must be registered with the government.
Conde argued that the law strikes a balance between individual liberty and public health, while also resolving the 鈥済rotesque juridical inconsistency鈥� arising from the status quo, in which marijuana consumption is not penalized but its production and sale is.
Opposition parties rejected the measure, as well as pharmacists, who reject the idea that marijuana will be sold in drugs stores.
There is also widespread public skepticism in this small country of 3.3 million. A poll taken in September found 61 percent disapprove of the law.
Legalizing cannabis will 鈥渄iminish the perception of risk and foster consumption, especially among children and adolescents,鈥� said Senator Alfredo Solari of the opposition Colorado Party.
鈥淣either our government nor the rest of the world should experiment with Uruguayans,鈥� he said.
Uruguayan psychiatrists were divided over the measure. Some argue it will help tamp down the use of more dangerous drugs, while others say it trivializes marijuana鈥檚 harmful effects.
Not all users were in favor of the law, either, with some chafing at the government controls.
鈥淚t鈥檚 invasive, because it is not up to the government to determine how much marijuana can be consumed and the quality,鈥� said Alicia Castilla, the author of a book on 鈥淐annabis Culture鈥� who spent three months in jail for growing the drug at home.
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.
The government has accompanied action on the law with a publicity campaign featuring the slogan, 鈥淎ll drug consumption has risks.鈥�
Conde said the law deals with an already entrenched social reality.
鈥淢arijuana is the illegal drug that is most consumed, fundamentally by young people, one that is perceived as extremely low risk and is easily obtained,鈥� he said.
Consumption of cannabis has doubled here in the past decade, and now accounts for 70 percent of the illegal drug consumption in Uruguay.
The government estimates that 128,000 of the country鈥檚 inhabitants smoke cannabis, though marijuana consumer associations put the number at around 200,000.