Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 20 July 2017

Legal pot sales begin in Uruguay under landmark 2013 law

By LEONARDO HABERKORN Authorities say nearly 5,000
Associated Press people have registered as
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay consumers allowing them
(AP) — Marijuana aficio- to buy up to 40 grams per
nados lined up at phar- month using fingerprint rec-
macies across Uruguay on ognition.
Wednesday to be among About two-thirds of them
the first in the South Ameri- live in Montevideo.
can nation to legally buy The price is set at the equiv-
pot as a law regulating its alent of $1.30 per gram,
sale took full effect. with 90 cents of that going
Customers sniffed pungent to the two businesses cho-
green buds and grinned sen to cultivate marijuana.
as they showed off blue- The rest is split between the
and-white envelopes con- pharmacies and the gov-
taining the plant, which is ernment, which will use its
now available as part a share to fund prevention
2013 measure that made programs. The marijuana
Uruguay the first nation to comes in packages em-
legalize a pot market cov- blazoned with a seal of
ering the entire chain from authenticity and warnings
plants to purchase. about the drug’s effects.
Santiago Pinatares, a Uruguay became the first
35-year-old construction People line up outside a pharmacy selling legal marijuana in downtown Montevideo, Uruguay, country to regulate a na-
worker, braved freezing Wednesday, July 19, 2017. Marijuana is going on sale at 16 pharmacies in Uruguay, the final step tional marijuana market-
in applying a 2013 law that made the South American nation the first to legalize a pot market
temperatures in the capi- covering the entire chain from plants to purchase. place in an effort to fight
tal, Montevideo, as he (AP Photo/Matilde Campodonico) rising homicide and crime
waited outside one of the rates associated with drug
16 pharmacies authorized choice but to buy on the told The Associated Press. to comment saying they trafficking.
to sell marijuana. He said black market until now. “Uruguay is at the forefront didn’t want their families The law also lets licensed
he has been smoking pot “To be able to buy it legally of the world on this.” or employers to know they individuals grow marijuana
since age 14 but had no is a huge breakthrough,” he Some customers declined were buying marijuana. plants and form clubs.q

OAS chief says he backs targeted sanctions against Venezuela

By RICHARD LARDNER the suffering of Venezuelan which is to force President ternal pressure in the coun- considering a wide range
Associated Press citizens. He described Ven- Nicolas Maduro and his try.” of sanctions on Venezuela,
WASHINGTON (AP) — The ezuela as the most corrupt supporters to make drastic President Donald Trump including cuts in oil imports.
leader of the Western Hemi- country on that continent. changes. threatened earlier this week Trump has imposed travel
sphere’s largest diplomatic “The only action of the gov- Sanctions helped push to take unspecified “eco- bans and has frozen the
body said Wednesday he ernment we see these days South Africa to abol- nomic actions” if Maduro assets of high-ranking of-
backs targeted sanctions is repression,” Almagro told ish apartheid in the early presses ahead with a July ficials in recent weeks, but
against high-ranking Vene- the Senate Foreign Rela- 1990s, he said, but the 30 vote on a constituent refrained from broad sanc-
zuelan officials responsible tions subcommittee on the country was committed assembly to retool the con- tions against Venezuela
for the political and eco- Western Hemisphere and to ending racial segrega- stitution. that could deepen its eco-
nomic turmoil gripping the transnational crime. tion. He cited Cuba as an Maduro’s socialist support- nomic crisis.
South American nation. “The scenarios that we see example of country that’s ers want the assembly to The oil-rich nation was once
But Luis Almagro, the secre- are pretty ugly for Venezu- resisted external pressure to grant him more power over one of Latin America’s most
tary general of the Organi- ela.” embrace democracy. the few institutions still out- prosperous, but it has been
zation of American States, Almagro, as part of bleak “There is no way to push side the control of his ruling plunged into chaos as pe-
cautioned a congressional assessment of Venezuela, a dictatorship down from party. troleum prices plummet,
oversight panel against also questioned whether abroad,” he said. “So sanc- Trump administration of- nationalized farms and fac-
sweeping economic pen- sanctions would succeed in tions may work or may not ficials also told reporters tories halt production and
alties that could worsen having their desired effect, work. It depends on the in- Tuesday that they were corruption runs rampant.q