Drug Legalization · Drug Legalization of Cannabis in a developing Country. The Uruguayan Model

Analysis and systematization of the process of Cannabis Legalization in Uruguay. Uruguayan government proposed the legal treatment of Cannabis, passing from prohibition to a legal monopoly of its production and supply by the State. This proposal has found detractors in the UNODC. The focus of my proposal lies in identify and characterize the possible effects that the approval of this bill will bring for the Uruguayan people, for the uruguayan international relationships and also to raise lessons for other developing countries. The possibility to systematize and evaluate the Uruguayan experience is an invaluable opportunity to assess the effects that more lenient policies towards drugs use can have in three specific areas:1. Criminal Policy: Public security, focusing in the rates of drug-related crime, the cost of its control and prosecution and the relationship between people and police. 2. Political Governance: Drug markets, focusing in the effects that the State as a provider of drugs might have in terms of product supply and financial performance (revenue and market share), 3. Public health: focusing in the rates of drug use and the demand of public health services in drug-related events (for instance, overdosing) and The research question that guides this proposal are: what are the effects-legal, economic, social- of Cannabis Legalization in a developing country? And, what can we learn in a comparative research from the Uruguayan experience? The overall aim of the project is to evaluate how criminal policy, state governance and public health are brought together in the implementation of the proposed model for the legalization of the commercialization of cannabis""""