Jos\u00e9 \u201cPepe\u201d Mujica shot back on Friday [13 Dec 2013] at the president of the International Narcotics Control Board, a U.N. agency, for saying that his administration refused to meet with the agency\u2019s officials before legalizing marijuana this week.<\/p>\n
Mujica batted down the criticism<\/a>, insisting that his administration is open to discussing the law and accusing the INCB President Raymond Yans of applying a double standard by criticizing Uruguay, even as U.S. states pass laws to legalize recreational marijuana consumption.<\/p>\n \u201cTell this old guy not to lie,\u201d Mujica told reporters, according to Colombian daily El Espectador. \u201cAny guy in the street can meet with me. Let him come to Uruguay and meet with me whenever he wants\u2026 He thinks that because he\u2019s in an international position, he can tell whatever lie he wants.\u201d<\/p>\n Yans had said that the law passed by the Uruguayan legislature<\/a> this week legalizing the consumption and government-controlled production and sale of marijuana would violate the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs<\/a>, which Uruguay has signed.<\/p>\n The INCB president said on Wednesday he was \u201csurprised\u201d that the Uruguayan government \u201cknowingly decided to break the universally agreed and internationally endorsed legal provisions of the treaty.<\/p>\n But Mujica dismissed the criticism as a double standard, pointing out that the U.S. states of Colorado and Washington have already legalized weed and that both of the states\u2019 populations individually exceed Uruguay\u2019s 3.4 million inhabitants.<\/p>\n \u201cDo they have two discourses, one for Uruguay and another for those who are strong?\u201d Mujica asked.<\/p>\n Uruguay\u2019s Senate gave its final approval Monday to a law legalizing the consumption of marijuana creating a government-controlled market for the soft drug\u2019s production and sale. Those wishing to smoke marijuana recreationally must register with the government and limit their intake to 40 grams per month, or whatever they can reap from up to six plants they may grow at home.<\/p>\n Mujica and his supporters argued that regulating marijuana consumption and production would take the profits out of the hands of criminals<\/a>, rather than continuing using soldiers and police to enforce a prohibition policy that fails to keep people from smoking weed.<\/p>\n The United States has largely refrained<\/a> from publicly criticizing Uruguay\u2019s actions, though State Department Spokesman Pooja Jhunjhunwala also said<\/a> the new law would violate the 1961 U.N. convention on drug control in comments to the Washington Post.<\/p>\n But Uruguay\u2019s president said he\u2019d faced international pressure, including from neighboring Brazil, for pushing ahead with his effort to end marijuana prohibition.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s always going to be pressure,\u201d Mujica told Brazilian daily Folha de S\u00e3o Paulo<\/i> before the law passed. \u201cThere\u2019s an apparatus in the world that lives by repressing, and it costs a lot of money.\u201d<\/p>\n