Roberto Gil Zuarth, president of the Senate, presented an initiative in regards to the production, sale and consumption of marijuana.
The proposal was written by experts, academics and specialists, and proposes legal cultivation at home of up to six plants, strictly for personal use.
It established that it would create an association or production cooperative to provide its associates a regulated quantity of the drug every month, but would prohibit on-site personal consumption.
That means that marijuana could be consumed at home, to avoid stigmatization, but never in the presence of minors, which would be penalized.
Farmers would be able to receive a cultivation license, for which a public entity would be created to give out licenses for the production and sale of the drug. The government would buy all the crops and would sell it to consumers directly.
The price would be fixed by the government, similar to what happens now with gasoline. There would be an administrative sanction against driving under the influence of marijuana.
Roberto Gil said that the initiative would put an end to a business that generates 140 billion dollars annually, an amount which today winds up in the hands of organized crime. The value of illegal marijuana exported to the United States alone is worth 40 billion dollars annually.
The president of the Senate said that the sale of cannabis represents 40 percent of criminal earnings.
