New Article. Good Summary... Cannabis in Uruguay: everything is ready for the sale of marijuana in pharmacy
If the forecasts are met, Uruguayan pharmacies wishing to do so will start selling cannabis from April 2017, ending a very long journey since the legalization of consumption and autoculture voted in 2013 . Regulatory bodies in the South American country and outlets have already made the final details, both on prices for the general public and the creation of a kind of emergency system. As long as the full distribution is not achieved, illegal cannabis trafficking will continue to enrich those who sell it on the back of the authorities.
One of the pioneering countries in the regulation of cannabis (Uruguay legalized consumption and autoculture in late 2013) is at a decisive turning point in its history. More than three years after the Senate approved the law regulating and controlling cannabis, and after many bureaucratic formalities, it seems that in April next year the pharmacies will be able to sell cannabis . These would be in addition to the many cannabis clubs already in existence in the country and those already growing in the country (more than 6,235 individual growers and 38 clubs with a maximum of 45 members and a maximum of 99 plants ).
In December 2016, President Uruguay Tabar Vzquez announced that the sale of cannabis in pharmacies would once again be delayed until 2017. At the beginning of the year the government justified the delay, Because of indispensable chemical analyzes not yet carried out. A few weeks later, in February, Vzquez explained that " in this year, halfway through the year, we will be in a position to apply the law in its entirety ".
The emergency button
Alejandro Antalich, vice president of the Pharmacies Center of Uruguay, said in a recent interview that pharmacies are already ready to start selling and that they have even set up a d Emergency . This security protocol, demanded by institutions to sell cannabis, connects them to the emergency department of the Ministry of the Interior to drive away thieves or drug traffickers who want to steal the local product. When the staff of the pharmacies activates it, the signal reaches the central unit and the nearest mobile police units.
The pharmacy corporation in the country has long been demanding an identical button for this type of security problem, as robberies with assaults on the premises were very common and many feared for the physical integrity of the workers. The cannabis project accelerated its installation. And, there will be no more need to sell cannabis in order to have the right to a totally free installation . In addition to this device, pharmacies will also be able to count on a fingerprint reader to verify the identity of the users registered on the register, indicating how much they can buy.
According to Antalich, pharmacies have also requested that the sale be voluntary. Thus, thanks to the data, about ten of these establishments will offer cannabis in the country, when the Institute of Regulatory and Control of Cannabis (IRCAA) will start publishing the register of consumers, who will have to be exclusively Uruguayan citizens or residents in the Country for many years, with the aim of avoiding cannabis tourism . The pharmacist also questioned the benefits of the sale because of the cannabis price and the fact that the clients will have to be registered in the IRCAA.
In the first few months, the IRCAA will only distribute a small amount of cannabis, to see how the population accepts it. Pharmacies will be able to possess up to two kilograms of psychoactive (non-medical) cannabis , and will be able to distribute per person 10 grams per week and 40 grams per month. Every 15 days pharmacies will be replenished. Two companies already exist, Iccorp and Symbiosis , which produce cannabis to supply the pharmacies as soon as the sale begins. They produce on public lands ceded by the State, 100 kilometers from Montevideo, and with the protection of the national security forces. For the time being, the two companies have produced two dried and processed tons, which will have to be sufficient for the first delivery to the pharmacies. The price of the gram will be 1.30 dollars (1.22 euros).
Fighting the black market
The sale in pharmacy brings with it an advance in the fight against drug traffickers . Although the existence of cannabis clubs and therapeutic self-cultivation are permitted, 70% of consumers buy on the black market. Among the reasons for which the country has legislated is the fight against this illegal industry, whose annual profits are estimated at about 30 or 40 million dollars (28,2 and 37,61 million euros) and also The removal of consumers from street sales, which are very dangerous. In a country of 3.3 million people, it is estimated that between 135,000 and 200,000 people consume cannabis.
The delay in the legal sale of cannabis means that there are still many people who buy on the black market. Some independent experts believe that once pharmacy sales are implemented, a long way to go before total eradication is reached. "The legal market is developing gradually, but as it grows, demand continues and, as the legal market can not satisfy them, the illegal market continues," said Marcos Bauden, a professor at ORT University, Uruguay.
At the beginning of March, the Polica Nacional director, Mario Layera, explained in an interview that the traffic had not decreased : in 2016, 4.3 tons of product were seized against 2.5 tons in 2015.
The other open fronts
While the official announcement of the beginning of sales is expected, cannabis is still a topical issue in Uruguay. In addition to the information provided by Layera, the Association of Cannabis Studies of Uruguay (CECA) recently asked that cannabis-based edible products also be regulated, whether they be psychoactive or not, as well as the licensing of cannabis Commercial exports of medicinal cannabis to other countries , such as Germany, Italy or Canada, and also carry out further research on therapeutic properties.
Meanwhile, the president of the National Drugs Council of the country, Juan Andrs Roballo, defended the Uruguayan policy at the UN and asked the organization to change the "prohibitionist and repressive paradigm" to cannabis. The United Nations had already warned in its 2016 report that a regulated cannabis market ran counter to the drug tax treaties to which Uruguay subscribed and which was limited "exclusively to narcotics for medical and scientific purposes" .
For example, the small nation is being added to other Latin American countries, such as Colombia and Mexico, which have also approved laws for the regulation of cannabis and have asked the UN to update it Its policy on this type of substances.
Alejandro Antalich, vice president of the Uruguay Pharmacies Center, believes that "no reversal can be envisaged" and that the moment to sell cannabis in the Uruguayan pharmacies has finally arrived . Many dates have been announced and we now hope that this is the definitive. The coming months will undoubtedly be decisive.