International Journal on Criminology Volume 6, Number 2, Winter 2018/Spring 2019 | Page 39

International Journal on Criminology
authorities' concerns was the danger faced by users having to go into areas with
high levels of criminal activity in order to buy their drugs. 8 The aim of legislators
was to weaken the criminal networks involved in the trade, and simultaneously to
protect those who consume the drug by keeping them from entering areas known
to be dangerous.
This aim was expressed very clearly in the preamble to the law legalizing
cannabis, which declares that for the state, the legislation is intended "to protect
the population from the risks associated with the illicit trade" by ending the paradoxical
situation in Uruguay in which the state had decriminalized the use of
marijuana in 1974, while at the same time prohibiting users from buying on the
still illegal black market. 9 The power of the criminal groups involved in the illicit
marijuana trade was thus seen as a secondary issue at that time, despite being
mentioned, for example, in a brochure intended to pave the way for the reform,
and published by the Junta Nacional de Drogas, a public body that put forward the
idea that the economic recovery seen in Uruguay in 2012 represented an "opportune
moment [that] had to be used to carry the bill through into law, so important
was it to weaken the traffickers by squeezing them out of the cannabis market."
Thus, on July 13, 2013, Law 19.172 was passed by Uruguay's Parliament
with a slim majority of 50 votes against 46, a sign of the lack of any clear consensus
on the issue in Uruguayan society. It was then ratified by the Senate, December 10,
2013, and subsequently enacted by the President on December 23, 2013. But has
this innovative strategy borne fruit? Has there been a weakening of the criminal
organizations theoretically now deprived of their lucrative monopoly on the cannabis
market?
Inadequate Supply of Legal Product Leaves
a Thriving Black Market
Nearly four years after the reform was passed, illegally produced cannabis
still dominates the Uruguayan market, and with some estimates putting
demand somewhere in the range of 25 to 35 metric tons, worth 30 to
40 million dollars, 10 the combined volume produced by home growers (six plants
per home) and clubs (non-profit cooperatives, allowed no more than 45 members
per 99 plants), plus the amount sold through pharmacies appears clearly insufficient.
"Legal" production of cannabis appears to represent only 5% of the coun-
8 A high-profile news story at the time affected public perception: the murder in appalling circumstances
of a young woman who had gone into a gang-controlled area of Montevideo to buy cannabis.
Interview with the CANNALEX team, Calzada, Montevideo, September 2015.
9 Geoffrey Ramsey, “Uruguay: Marijuana, Organized Crime and the Politics of Drugs,” Insight
Crime, 2013.
10 http://monitorcannabis.uy/investigaciones/
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