

Uruguay could be the world’s first marijuana republic - pitiburi
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/30/world/americas/uruguay-considers-legalizing-marijuana-to-stop-traffickers.html?pagewanted=all

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brennenHN
Last summer Portugal released a bunch of information about its decision to
legalize all drugs 11 (was 10 at the time of the report) years ago. Crime,
addiction, and traffic were all down and rehabilitation rates (courts can
mandate rehab but not prison) were way up. The U.S. certainly isn't going to
be a leader here, but here's to hoping it will eventually be a follower.

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dkl
Legalize != decriminalize. Portugal did the latter.

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Apocryphon
"United Nations officials say no other country has seriously considered
creating a completely legal state-managed monopoly for marijuana or any other
substance prohibited by the 1961 United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic
Drugs."

I thought Morales in Bolivia was doing something with coca production?

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cwe
And as Brennan mentioned above [1], what about Portugal?

[1] <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4314916>

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vibrunazo
Because Portugal didn't "legalize all drugs" as he posted. That's a common
misconception, but very far from reality. The only big difference in Portugal
from the rest of the planet, is that the drug user is treated like a medical
patient and not a criminal. So you're ordered to go to a rehab instead of
going to prison. But it's just as illegal as anywhere else. The word
"decriminalization" causes a lot of confusion since it can mean a lot of
different things.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_policy_of_Portugal>

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zalew
> The only big difference in Portugal from the rest of the planet, is that the
> drug user is treated like a medical patient and not a criminal.

You should read about Switzerland's policy on heroin. Special clinics,
perscriptions, available clean needles everywhere, professional staff (and
AFAIR many members of public facing professions) medically trained to perform
injections in case an addict needs one but isn't phisically able to do it
himself, etc. Somebody who knows better can probably expand on the details,
but there's a complex multi-layer policy on drugs, from prevention and harm
reduction to quality control.

Ironically, smoking joints is technically illegal and the latest try to do it
didn't pass the referendum, however, the fines aren't that drastic according
to wiki <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_in_Switzerland>

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pavel_lishin
Marijuana republic sounds awkward. Can we just call it a cannabinocracy?

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ktizo
Could just call it The High Country, given it's lack of mountains.

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moo
Ganjawana Land.

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mrleinad
Considering that:

1) Drugs for recreational activities such as tobacco and alcohol have very
well known harmful effects, even when consumed in small dosis.

2) There are 0 annual casualties from the use of Marijuana, you just can't
overdose to death on it, and it has lots of medical and non-medical uses.

Can someone tell me why it was criminalized in the first place?

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gbog
Things don't have to be lethal to be undesirable. Porn, TV, junk food, all are
not legal but still undesirable things.

I think smoking pot in the morning is as bad an habit as watching 3h/day TV.
In the sense that I would shoot at him if my little brother did one of those.
Ago the argument for decriminalization should be more in the line of: let
people choose their bad habits.

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gbog
Wanted to edit but server was down and now I cannot edit anymore:
s/shoot/shout/ s/Ago/And s/legal/lethal

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ojiikun
Can't resist re-sharing this for those who haven't seen it:
<http://youtu.be/hMM_T_PJ0Rs>

