Hooray for Uruguay!

The Beach at Montevideo

Hooray, Hooray for Uruguay!

It hasn’t happened yet, but Uruguayan President Jose Mujica has an idea for how to win in the war on drugs.  The plan is to totally legalize marijuana, to go beyond legalizing it, nationalizing it even.  That is, the government will be the dealer and you’ll go into a pot shop where everything will be neatly laid out with set prices.  It’s not, unfortunately, a vision of hippie utopia, however.

Mujica wants to keep tabs on who buys pot, when, where and how often.  That’s his plan.

Actually, I hope it works out well.  I think that most stoners will be happy to comply, as long as nobody’s getting arrested.  I remember a pub where I used to get my regular supply, back when I was fairly new in Prague and didn’t know any better.  You could buy it there, you could  roll it up there, but they were quite strict in insisting that you smoke outside.  So, we did.  We know where the security cameras were, sometimes we’d even wave at them.

I think this will be a big tourist draw for Uruguay.  I don’t know that that’s their intent, but the country has beaches, islands, a pleasant year round climate and several national parks.  Hippies love that stuff.  I think Montevideo is a natural fit to be the  Amsterdam of the southern  hemisphere.

Of course, it’s not a done deal yet.  The president has to present the legislation to his congress, and you know how that can go.  On the other hand, the president is from the majority party, so they might be able to make it work.  I hope so.  I’m curious to know how it works out.