MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
A Nobel peace prize for Uruguay for legalizing cannabis
Uruguay's recent passing of a bill legalizing cannabis from production to distribution has generated headlines and controversy worldwide. The basics of the law is that current methods to combat drugs addiction and trade have failed completely and new options should be experimented.
The Guardian columnist Simon Jenkins writes on the controversy. Read full article
Comments
Disclaimer & comment rulesThe Guardian Newspaper, possibly the worst thing ever we Mancunians gave to the world, right after Steven Morrissey, although the Irish can share the blame for him too!
Dec 14th, 2013 - 12:12 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Simon Jenkins is a puerile anarchist. Definitely anti-British. Probably a druggie. And how many international laws is Pepe breaking?
Dec 14th, 2013 - 12:32 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Jenkins deserves to be deported to Argentina- no less.
Dec 14th, 2013 - 02:07 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Philippe
@ 2 Conqueror
Dec 14th, 2013 - 02:15 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“And how many international laws is Pepe breaking?”
I don’t think very much of Pepe: he has been a financial and educational disaster for Uruguay.
But, I don’t think he has broken any laws! They are conventions to which countries can sign up to or leave from.
The Law in question is sovereign to Uruguay don’t forget.
But if I am wrong I can rely on you to tell me.
People rob banks, people kill, oh, we haven't managed to stop them. Ok let them carry on robbing and murdering. If you want to stop something you just don't give in to them. What a cock.
Dec 14th, 2013 - 02:40 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@ 5 golfcronie
Dec 14th, 2013 - 03:07 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“People rob banks, people kill, oh, we haven't managed to stop them. Ok let them carry on robbing and murdering.”
But that is exactly what Pepe and his murdering mates in the Tupamaros did! So you can see where it comes from: poacher turned gamekeeper.
For once Pepe has got it right.
Dec 14th, 2013 - 04:17 pm - Link - Report abuse 050 years of laws and persecution has been unable to stop the sale of beer (alcoholics start with one beer). Allow sale of beer and marijane although all the criminal dealers protest it.
Uruguay is right! Get over it!
Dec 14th, 2013 - 05:19 pm - Link - Report abuse 0If a Nobel Prize for idiocy existed Simon Jenkins would have won it on a number of occasions.
Dec 14th, 2013 - 06:02 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Whatever this guy tells you, believe the opposite. You'll do well in life.
Ferkin Guardian.
Dec 14th, 2013 - 06:52 pm - Link - Report abuse 0No self respecting chip would be seen dead wrapped in it!
Re #3
Dec 14th, 2013 - 07:18 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Actually, I meant to say that Jenkins should be deported to Martin Garcia Island, which is situated in Uruguay, but “belongs” to Argentina.
Philippe
@ 11 Philippe
Dec 14th, 2013 - 08:00 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Yes, that is something else the thieving bastard argies have stolen.
That one really upsets my Spanish Language teacher no end.
I am baffled as why so many people assume that the decriminalisation of marijuana is going to dramatically increase consumption. Where is the evidence? Pot is already widely available, easy to produce and relatively cheap.
Dec 15th, 2013 - 04:42 am - Link - Report abuse 0People with a strong sense of self don't become addicts - they have the resourcefulness to find other ways of enjoying themselves. Even when possession of pot was pursued more rigorously and the penalties were much more punitive it had no effect on consumption - it simply made it more expensive.
There are many other ways of escaping reality that are just as destructive and perfectly legal. Several of Australia's state govts. have become addicted to the revenue that poker machines bring in. It's common for people to spend their entire dole cheque within hours of receiving it on a poker machine, all the while nursing schooner after schooner.
We've just endured another weekend of alcohol-fueled violence in our cities. I'm sick of it. It's not just a question of a bit of biff and a hangover. People are getting killed. And don't get me started on the oceans of internet porn produced by the San Fernando valley. It's at least as damaging to youthful psyches as pot.
5 golfcronie Anyone who is unable to differentiate between robbery/murder and cannabis is in desperate need of a check up from the neck up.
Dec 15th, 2013 - 08:07 am - Link - Report abuse 0I've got an idea! Let's play “Ask the Prohibitionist!”
Q) Mr. Prohibitionist, Mr. Prohibitionist, how many prohibitionists does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A) None. Lightbulbs cause perverted acts when they’re “turned on” during sex. We just don’t need any more perverts. We may as well just legalize rape if we go that route!
@14
Dec 15th, 2013 - 10:31 am - Link - Report abuse 0You obviously cannot read, where did I say the word “ cannabis ” it was an analogy.
@13
Dec 15th, 2013 - 04:09 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I agree.
A Nobel prize for Pepe would certainly be more deserved than Obama's.
Nobody that smokes cannabis will stop because the law says so, just as little as anybody will start smoking using legalization as a reason.
Dec 15th, 2013 - 10:36 pm - Link - Report abuse 0These silly posters are so upset with their lives they will puke at anything and everything. Nothing can change that either...
golfcronie, that's utter malarkey. What the heck did you mean when you said, “People rob banks, people kill, oh, we haven't managed to stop them. Ok let them carry on robbing and murdering. If you want to stop something you just don't give in to them.”? Were you just posting completely off topic? Because the topic here is cannabis so it's a perfectly reasonable inference that you were referring to cannabis. Then there's the fact that the same absurdity is regularly regurgitated by brain dead sycophants of prohibition several times a month in comments columns under news articles in the general category of cannabis law reform.
Dec 16th, 2013 - 05:07 am - Link - Report abuse 0mujica... 'let's deal with all these drug wars by making everyone junkies!' - fantastic logic.
Dec 16th, 2013 - 11:59 am - Link - Report abuse 0The Guardian - let's expose the British intelligence gathering strategy because it might be operating outside of the law - ops we've let the cat out of the bag, we've undermined Britain's ability to defend itself. What a hypocrite this paper is - best rename itself - The Traitor.
Jenkins is oh so happy to give away the homes and lands of Britons far away, a negative guy, a negative stance.
@19 Musky
Dec 16th, 2013 - 01:59 pm - Link - Report abuse 0You quote Mujica as saying 'lets's deal with all these drug wars by making everyone junkies!”. Where did he say that? And even if he did how did he propose this was going to occur? Even if you forcibly attached a bong to every Uruguayan citizen and forced them to inhale it still wouldn't turn them into junkies. ( By the way the term 'junkie'
Musky, it's very sad that you're so weak that the only thing that keeps you from being a “junkie” is an artificial, unjust law. But most people just aren't so unable to control themselves. You need to deal with your problem yourself. It's not society's job to keep you sober. One day at a time old man. One day at a time.
Dec 16th, 2013 - 03:48 pm - Link - Report abuse 0To continue...'junkie' comes from William Burrough's novel 'Junky' ( 1953 ), it was intended to describe heroin addicts exclusively. Not people addicted to marijuana.
Dec 16th, 2013 - 03:59 pm - Link - Report abuse 0If reading an article by Simon Jenkins as well as anything published by The Guardian ( or Grauniad as Private Eye used to describe it ) is such an ordeal for you, you can find a similar article in The Financial Times which is worth reading for the comments alone.
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