Baker Institute expert available to comment on Uruguay’s vote to legalize marijuana

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David Ruth
713-348-6327
david@rice.edu

Jeff Falk
713-348-6775
jfalk@rice.edu

Baker Institute expert available to comment on Uruguay’s vote to legalize marijuana
Jones: Passage could make Uruguay the tip of the spear in international alternative drug policy

HOUSTON – (Aug. 1, 2013) – Uruguay’s lower house Wednesday night approved a broad measure to legalize marijuana. The bill now goes to the Senate, where lawmakers have assured President José Mujica that they have a comfortable majority to approve it. Mujica supports the bill and has said that it is needed to redirect police resources toward fighting street crime and smugglers involved in trafficking other types of drugs.

NATHAN JONES

Nathan Jones, the Alfred C. Glassell III Postdoctoral Fellow in Drug Policy at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy and an expert on drug violence, is available to comment on the near- and long-term implications of this development.

“Uruguay’s passage of a marijuana legalization bill in its lower house could make it the tip of the spear in international alternative drug policy,” Jones said. “As the first nation to legalize marijuana, it could provide the world a model for how to deny significant profits to organized crime that victimize society through drug violence.”

The Baker Institute has a radio and television studio available for media who want to schedule an interview with Jones. For more information, contact Jeff Falk, associate director of national media relations at Rice, at jfalk@rice.edu or 713-348-6775.

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Related materials:

Jones biography: http://www.bakerinstitute.org/personnel/fellows-scholars/njones.

Founded in 1993, the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University in Houston ranks among the top 20 university-affiliated think tanks globally and top 30 think tanks in the United States. As a premier nonpartisan think tank, the institute conducts research on domestic and foreign policy issues with the goal of bridging the gap between the theory and practice of public policy. The institute’s strong track record of achievement reflects the work of its endowed fellows and Rice University scholars. Learn more about the institute at www.bakerinstitute.org or on the institute’s blog, http://blogs.chron.com/bakerblog.