Interview Augusto Vitale Expogrow Irún 2015

Transcript of interview with Augusto Vitale:

Hello friends, we are here at 2015 Expogrow Irun with Augusto Vitale. How are you Augusto, how was the conference?

Well, thanks a lot, it was nice. We are participating here from the experience of what we are developing in Uruguay as members
of a team trying to implement the law regulating and controlling the cannabis market.

Last year we could speak with Julio Calzada, who told us about the situation of cannabis in Uruguay.

How has it evolved during the last year ?

Well, after the law was approved, it was a true challenge for us
giving operative and institutional capacities to the institute that created it, which is the Institute for the control and regulation of cannabis, composed by the Drug Secretariat of Uruguay (where Julio was general secretary), the Ministry of Public Health , the Ministry of Social Development, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock.

That is the management board that works with the technical teams from these Ministries... Well, the first challenge was solving the practical aspects of that implementation; how are the records created, where do users go and register, they can go to the National Public Post, with offices all around the country, and they must choose among the different modalities of access: home use,
grow their own cannabis at home, cannabis clubs and something still not operative, dispensation in pharmacies.

Then we also have the rules for the medical use, the medical use, and for the industrial use or hemp, that was the challenge, creating an institution and hoping to get funds from the national budget to be operative. 

Let's hope so! How could we compare the current situation of cannabis in Uruguay with the European scene? 

Well, we have learned a lot about harm reduction from the European experience, especially during a decade in which you had to deal with heroine, HIV/AIDS and contagious diseases, so we could learn about some of the most important questions even before those were raised in Uruguay. 

I think today we have common challenges, since since we now have the experience of making a political decision, as we could see
during the past administration, and now maintaining that law,  that political decision of bringing coherence to something that was not punished by the legal system, which is the personal use of psychoactive substances without harm to third parties.

Then, we think we have that experience to share with Europe, so you can also find the best way to apply policies which have already been developed over the course of many years.

There can be some kind of synergy between both continents, that would be nice.

What about the future? What do you expect globally for the coming years?

I hope the debate on drugs advances towards honesty and gets rid of the hypocrisy behind many policies from societies that tolerate the use, but do not want to be fair regarding a possible
normalization with rules, right ?

Because we are not speaking about the liberalization of all drugs, but setting rules according to the dynamics, risks and harms derived from each substance, just as we did with alcohol or tobacco, which are other drugs that actually act as gateway drugs for our younger citizens so I think we should be more coherent and not only regulate some of them, always keeping in mind the decriminalization of all users, of course.

Augusto, anything else you would like to say to the cannabis community?

Well, it is very important for us that the civil society and the movements themselves are open to dialogue so they can help us
to develop better drug policies. I am a technician with political commitment, but I've also been actively involved in other historical moments, where it is crucial that those social movements are heard and their requests on this debate are properly handled by the politicians so... Best of lucks and we are connected in some manner.

Thanks a lot for your work, because we really need it, and lots of luck for the future.

Thank you.