Development: In an interview aired on CNN en Español on 19 August, President José ‘Pepe’ Mujica of Uruguay told Andrés Oppenheimer that “a private company is the one that will sell marijuana [in Uruguay], under strict government control”.
Significance: President Mujica’s legalisation proposal has been controversial from the get-go; the government’s submission of a single-article bill raised concerns about the improvisation of this policy and that too much power would be left in the president’s hands. Mujica’s latest comments about the role that a private company would play has raised even more concerns within the opposition and the ruling Frente Amplio (FA)’s congressional bloc: some legislators want a bill legalising cultivation for personal consumption; others say they do not want to find out about their government’s proposals through the media and that communication channels with the executive are failing.
Key points:
• Mujica clarified in the interview that only Uruguayans would be eligible to purchase marijuana – with a monthly cap on consumption- so as to avoid a repeat of The Netherland’s drug tourism industry.
• Although in the interview Mujica said the bill has the support of “50% of congress”, some dissent is already being voiced from within the FA about the proposal’s failure to mention cultivation for personal consumption.
• This weekend Deputy Luis Puig (FA) said “The proper way [to table a proposal] would have been to discuss it in its natural sphere [i.e. with legislators, academics, health specialists and counter-narcotics experts], before it came out in the press, because we had been analysing a bill for two years and now it [the government] comes up with a totally different vision on the subject”.
• The opposition also reacted negatively to Mujica’s statements. Pedro Bordaberry, the leader of the Partido Colorado said “this is another great improvisation, it has been like that from the beginning and now the President does it again. This issue is too serious and important to be managed in such an improvised manner....The President starts from the end, which is to tell us what he wants and only then he asks for studies and a debate. You can’t govern like this; this is not a BBQ at Pepe’s house or another pleasant thing like that, this will destroy the life of many young Uruguayans.”
