UN monitor concerned about increase in cannabis users in Uruguay

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – While the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), composed of 13 experts, “recognizes the efforts” of the Uruguayan government to monitor the production, distribution and use of that drug, it expresses its “concern” about the increase in consumers.

In the document, made public in Vienna, the INCB reminds the South American country that the legalization and regulations that allow the use of cannabis for non-medicinal purposes contravene the obligations assumed by the States that  have adhered to the 1961 Drug Convention.

In Uruguay there are three routes to access cannabis legally: home cultivation, membership in a cannabis club, or purchase from a registered pharmacy.

Of the three routes, the fastest growing is the cannabis club route, which rose 18% between 2019 and 2020, the INCB highlights.

According to the most recent data, from February 2020, there are some 53,400 people authorized to access the regulated cannabis market in the South American country, up 7.5% from the previous year.

Of these people, most (about 40,000) get cannabis in pharmacies, the report indicates.

According to 2018 data, the INCB recalls, 8.9 % of the Uruguayan population between 15 and 65 claims to have used cannabis in the last month, with an average age for first use of about 20 years, two years older than a decade earlier.

A recent report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), cited by the INCB, indicates that only a small proportion of cannabis users in Uruguay use the official and regulated market.

The Board notes that it consulted with the Uruguayan authorities last November on the cannabis situation.

In this regard, it stresses that it will continue to discuss the implementation of the drug control treaties within the framework of the 1961 Convention, which calls for limiting the use of these substances to medicinal and scientific purposes.

Source: EFE