Uruguay legalizes pot, recasting drug war

Senate vote gives government monopoly over pot sales and distribution
Wall Street Journal (US)
Tuesday, December 10, 2013

uruguay-libertad-creceThe Uruguay Senate approved a bill to legalize marijuana and put its trade into state hands, in what many experts said marks a new model for the war on drugs in its principal battleground of Latin America. President José Mujica plans to sign the bill, which passed the lower house of Congress in July, into law. A Uruguayan state agency will oversee the distribution and sale of marijuana. The goal is to cut out drug trafficking and reduce the violence associated with it.