International Journal on Criminology Volume 6, Number 2, Winter 2018/Spring 2019 | Page 46

Initial Impact of the Legalization of Cannabis on Criminality in Uruguay
things are changing. The Instituto de la regulación y control del Cannabis (IRC-
CA), the police, and the magistrature have signed a protocol that creates a much
closer relationship between the forces of law and order and the new criminal justice
system created by the new regulatory policy. 36 Thus, non-criminal offense such
as licensing infringements, possession, small quantities, and non-fatal accidents
are handled by an administrative tribunal, while more serious offenses (large plantations,
use and possession in prison) are dealt with by the penal system.
Conclusion: The Uruguayan Paradox
With a sharp increase in cannabis seizures and a rise in homicide linked to
drug feuds since organized crime groups began to operate in the country,
the crime and security situation in Uruguay has been deteriorating
continuously since 2013. This state of affairs is strongly linked to three factors. One
is the development of transnational cocaine-trafficking routes which increasingly
pass through the continent's southern cone; a second factor is the increased traffic
in coca paste, driven by gangs of youths from the most disadvantaged neighborhoods;
and third, regulatory policy has been implemented more slowly than
expected because of internal resistance specific to Uruguayan society, which has
impeded the replacement of the illegal supply of cannabis with a legal one.
This latter point explains in particular the growth in cannabis seizures. The
supply to the legal market is barely a tenth of national consumption and is thus
not sufficient to satisfy the demand. As for the first two points, it would be unfair
to blame the growth of criminal violence on regulatory policy, because it arises in
connection with a substance—cocaine—that is not targeted by that policy; and the
process of "Colombianization" or even "Mexicanization" of Uruguay has been under
way for nearly fifteen years. The increasing problem of rising criminality does,
however, suggest that while attempting to be innovative, this policy does not, by
definition, even address one of the most significant sources of criminal violence in
Latin America: the trafficking of cocaine and coca paste.
This serves to underline the fact that the continent of South America is not
besieged by cannabis, and that the legalization of the drug could only ever have a
limited direct impact on criminality. The negative aspects of the legislation, reinforced
by reticence in some quarters of the police and magistrature, who had the
impression that they were not fully involved in the new policy, must certainly not
overshadow its positive impacts, in particular its most significant achievement: the
central role given to the state in the form of regulatory bodies equipped with real
powers. This has meant that despite the creation of a legal supply of cannabis, the
diversion of that supply into the black market happens only extremely rarely.
36 Despite this protocol, one Uruguayan magistrate says that it has been difficult to change the mindset
and professional practices of the police and the magistrates: "Until 2015, you could see policemen
weighing the plants one after the other." Source: CANNALEX.
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