Uruguayan authorities made a major announcement on October 1, laying out plans for the biggest step yet in the country’s efforts to regulate all levels of the cannabis market: cultivation for commercial sales. Officials revealed that two companies have been selected to grow cannabis for sale in pharmacies. The first commercial offerings will likely be available to registered consumers in about 8 months, or mid-year 2016.

Two companies have obtained licenses from the Uruguayan government to cultivate marijuana, the country's National Drug Board said Thursday.

"Twenty-two proposals were presented ... and two licenses for production and distribution were given out," Juan Andres Roballo, head of the National Drug Board, said at a news conference.

MONTEVIDEO (Reuters) - Marijuana pioneer Uruguay said on Thursday it had granted licenses to two companies to grow the plant for commercial distribution, adding that the pot should go on sale in pharmacies next year.

The South American country was the world's first to legalize the cultivation and distribution of marijuana, aiming to wrest control of the trade from drug gangs while regulating and even taxing its consumption.

But the novelty of the endeavor has thrown up challenges preventing the government from meeting its own deadlines in implementing legislation passed nearly two years ago. The country originally planned to distribute licenses a year ago.

“We can regulate these markets without a prohibitionist stance,” Vazquez said.
​Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez defended his country's “sovereign” decisions over public health and slammed the multinational tobacco industry, which he said “in order to double its profits doesn't have any problem in killing its customers.”

During his speech before the UN General Assembly, Tuesday, Vazquez singled out Phillip Morris for suing Uruguay over the country's anti-smoking campaign. The company is suing Uruguay for US$25 million under a bilateral investment treaty between Uruguay and Switzerland.

“It is not ethical that tribunals of multinational organizations can give priorities to trade aspects over the defense of fundamental human rights,” said Vazquez.

Experts Warn "Failed Policy" Will Lead to More Violence, Corruption

Narco-trafficking has become a key issue in this year’s presidential race in Argentina, and the top three candidates — Sergio Massa, Mauricio Macri, and Daniel Scioli — all agree on one thing: an increased role for state security forces to fight the war on drugs.+

Various experts and intellectuals, however, say the current discourse is riddled with “assumptions, intuition, and improvisation” and are calling for the candidates to have a “serious debate” on drug policy.+

The Center for Legal Social Studies (CELS) recently released a publication, entitled The Impact of Drug Policy on Human Rights, which has shed light upon some of the deep erosions of civil liberties and human rights that have been justified by the War on Drugs. The report – which primarily focuses upon the consequences of the drug war in Latin America – criticises how prohibition’s human rights implications have only recently become matters of discussion, despite the cyclical violence of prohibition having ravaged the region for decade.

According to Paraguay’s attorney general the country’s Indigenous population is being coerced into illegal drug trafficking.
​Illegal narcotics organizations operating in East Paraguay are using the local Indigenous population as “drug slaves”, Paraguayan Attorney General Christian Roig said on Thursday.

“The Indigenous peoples are used as drug slaves. With very little money they are forced to cultivate marijuana because they lack institutional support from the state. The local criminal organizations take advantage of this,” Attorney General Roig told EFE on Thursday.

Paraguay is the primary producer of marijuana in South America and one of the largest suppliers in the world after Mexico.

According to the deputy Juan Luis Castro, up to four grams and a plant will be considered a fault, while more than that is a crime.
"We are far from reaching an agreement on the project," said the chairman of the Health Committee.

A reduction of penalties, without their removal, is what the Government proposes on the project that seeks to decriminalize marijuana, which is pending in the House of Representatives.

According an advance from the president of the Health Commission of the House, Juan Luis Castro (PS), the position is that if a person is caught carrying up to four grams of marijuana or has a plant for self-cultivation in his home it will be considered an administrative offense, with citation to the local police court, and a possible fine.

Do Brazilian citizens have the right to consume drugs? That’s the question being considered by the Brazil's highest court in a case that has challenged the constitutionality of laws punishing drug consumption. Possession of marijuana, cocaine and other drugs is a crime in Brazil, even small amounts. In 2009, a man who was already in prison on a petty crime and an illegal firearms conviction was caught with a small quantity of marijuana, convicted and punished with an additional sentence.

With its proposed changes to Ley 20.000 (Law 20,000), Chile joins a growing list of Latin American countries decriminalizing marijuana. The initiative, which would grant Chileans the right to possess up to 10 grams of cannabis and grow up to six marijuana plants at a time, was passed in Chile’s Chamber of Deputies on July 7 with 68 voting in favor and 39 against.