Earlier this month, Uruguay’s House of Representatives passed a bill legalizing marijuana and regulating the production, distribution and sale of the drug by the government. While the bill has yet to be approved by the Uruguayan Senate, its passage is expected. Uruguay would then become the first country in the world where marijuana is fully regulated from cultivation to sale.
The move sends a clear message that the existing drug prohibition regime is no longer adequate to address contemporary drug problems. Uruguay’s unprecedented initiative followed a groundbreaking report by the Organization of American States (OAS) that included a devastating assessment of the drug prohibition regime and the “war on drugs,” legitimizing a regional rethink of drug policy. The initiative is also an important milestone ahead of the U.N. General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on the world drug problem, which is set to take place in 2016.
The rationale behind Uruguay’s bill is that by pushing drug traffickers out of the business of marijuana sales, the measure will prevent increasing violence over turf and trafficking routes. At the same time, by providing products of greater quality as well as better access to medical care, the government will decrease the danger to the health of users and addicts.
But marijuana regulation in Uruguay is likely to create international tensions. First, the new legislation would contravene the international regime that imposes a comprehensive ban on narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances. The International Narcotics Control Board has already confirmed that Uruguay would be in breach of international conventions should it enact the bill. Second, individual states that support the prohibition policy as the most effective in reducing addiction and violence will perceive Uruguay’s new approach as a danger to their security and decrease their aid packages. For instance, in 2009 Bolivia lost its U.S. drug certification, required for receiving U.S. aid and loan guarantees, when La Paz attempted to amend the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs.
However, the fact that two U.S. states—Colorado and Washington—voted to legalize marijuana in November 2012 makes it very difficult for the U.S. federal government to publicly oppose policy developments toward regulation in Uruguay. It also weakens Washington’s insistence on the respect of international conventions, as the U.S. is arguably in breach of them itself. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder recently announced a series of measures to reduce the degree of criminalization of low-level offenders in the U.S. in an attempt to address these domestic and regional tensions.