Matilde Campodonico for The New York Times
Marijuana growing in a closet in Uruguay. Personal use has been decriminalized, but drug-related violence is an issue.
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay — The agricultural output of this country includes
rice, soybeans and wheat. Soon, though, the government may get its hands
dirty with a far more complicated crop — marijuana — as part of a rising movement in this region to create alternatives to the United States-led war on drugs.
Uruguay’s famously rebellious president first called for “regulated and controlled legalization of marijuana”
in a security plan unveiled last month. And now all anyone here can
talk about are the potential impacts of a formal market for what Ronald
Reagan once described as “probably the most dangerous drug in America.”
