Vice Reporter Casually Smokes Cannabis Joint During Interview With Uruguay President, Jose Mujica

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Huffington Post

Vice Reporter Casually Smokes Cannabis Joint During Interview With Uruguay President, Jose Mujica (VIDEO)
The Huffington Post UK | Posted: 16/04/2014 12:21 BST | Updated: 16/04/2014 12:59 BST

Cannabis is now legal in Uruguay, so when a reporter was interviewing the country's president he saw it as a perfect opportunity to spark up a casual joint.

Reporter Krishna Andavolu, of Vice (of course), had a chat with President José Mujica about his landmark decision to make the production, sale and possession of cannabis legal for a new documentary entitled "Weediquette: The Cannabis Republic of Uruguay."

“I’m smoking weed with the president of Uruguay at his farm outside of Montevideo,” Andavolu says in the video teaser.



President Mujica, who looks a little bemused by the stunt, then explains how is hoping that by legalising weed, he can bring users out of the shadows, direct addicts to treatment more effectively and put drug traffickers out of business.

“If you need to take drugs to be free, then you’re screwed,” Mujica tells the reporter.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/04/16/vice-reporter-smokes-cannabis-joint-uruguay-president_n_5158504.html

[nikto]

1. The reporter gets the "Stoner Of The Month" award

I call that brave and admirable consumption.

[marble falls]

2. Eh. I think toking up was wrong on a couple of levels. Not that I mind toking up.....

maybe immediately after the phone call telling me I was getting an interview and/or after the interview in a room somewhere else with a couple or so friends but not during. Just sayin' didn't break any rules but there's a time and place and a set and setting.

[wildbilln864]

3. bet that was some good shit too! n/t

[Judi Lynn]

4. Uruguay president says `US must learn Spanish harder'

Posted : 2014-05-14 18:04
Updated : 2014-05-14 18:04
Uruguay president says `US must learn Spanish harder'

By Ko Dong-hwan

Uruguayan President Jose Mujica Cordano has become an American press darling with his interesting mixture of humility and opinionated straight talk, USA Today reported on Monday.

Meeting U.S. President Barack Obama at the Oval Office, Cordano showed up without a tie and declared that Americans must try harder to learn Spanish as much as Uruguayans are devoted to learning English.

He then proposed the U.S. follow the footsteps of Germany, which promised to send 10,000 scholars to Uruguay to help improve the country’s human resources.

Being the world’s first president to legalize cannabis, Cordano emphasized the importance of uprooting the evils of cigarettes.

Regarded as one of the individually poorest world leaders, Cordano is famous for his down-to-earth lifestyle; he lives in a rural shack with his wife, donates 90 percent of his income to charity and is frequently seen mingling with pedestrians.

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/world/2014/05/182_157210.html

(Short article, no more at link.)

[Judi Lynn]

5. Prison inmate taps into the cellular phone of US ambassador in Uruguay

Wednesday, May 14th 2014 - 02:54 UTC
Prison inmate taps into the cellular phone of US ambassador in Uruguay

A prisoner in Uruguay tapped into the U.S. ambassador's cell-phone and sent messages to some of her contacts in an attempt to commit a still undisclosed fraud, authorities said Tuesday, although the news was on the media a day before.


[font size=1]
Police are trying to find out how Ambassador
Julissa Reynoso's cell-phone was tapped [/font]

Officials said the inmate at the Maldonado prison got Ambassador Julissa Reynoso's voice mail password and gained access to her voice messages.

“Using that, he got access to some messages left by some of my friends. And he was able to — I don't know how — send certain messages from prison to some of my contacts,” Reynoso, who is in the U.S. accompanying Uruguayan President Jose Mujica on his official visit, told Uruguay's Canal 10 TV.

Reynoso played down the importance of the information accessed by the inmate, whose identity was not revealed. The channel said the ambassador and the embassy's security officer filed a complaint with Uruguay's interior ministry.

The case was first reported by FM Gente radio station in the southern city of Maldonado. The station said police discovered the inmate had access to the ambassador's phone while investigating him for other frauds committed while in prison.

More:
http://en.mercopress.com/2014/05/14/prison-inmate-taps-into-the-cellular-phone-of-us-ambassador-in-uruguay

[center]~ ~ ~[/center]
Uruguayan prisoner taps cellphone of U.S. ambassador
Tuesday, May 13, 2014 8:56pm

A prisoner in Uruguay has tapped into the U.S. ambassador's cellphone and sent messages to some of her contacts. Officials said Tuesday that the inmate had access to Ambassador Julissa Reynoso's voice messages. Reynoso is in the United States, joining President Jose Mujica on his official visit to Washington, D.C. She told Uruguay's Canal 10 TV that the inmate used her voice mail password and sent messages to some of her contacts.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/uruguayan-prisoner-taps-cellphone-of-us-ambassador/2179635

(Short article, no more at link.)

[Judi Lynn]

6. Uruguayan tips for Obama

Uruguayan tips for Obama

14 May 2014

The Uruguay president spelt out words of wisdom as he met his United States counterpart in Washington.

Jose Mujica, who is highly respected for his cherished values on human rights and socialism, had a piece of advice for Barack Obama as he wanted the Americans to look beyond its frontiers and embrace a pluralistic culture. What he meant was to focus on the backwater countries in America’s south and co-exist with their lingual preferences. The Uruguayan leader said the US would have to become a multilingual country, with its citizens learning Spanish, Portuguese and other Latin languages. This is no ordinary statement. Intellectuals and academicians in times to come can evaluate its essence by keeping in mind the problems that an assertive and arrogant world power faces due to demographic imbalances.

Obama, who praised Mujica as an undisputed leader on human rights in the entire Western hemisphere, apparently in the light of his courage to adopt five prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay, exhibited his political acumen as he avoided controversial issues between the two countries. Rather, he eulogised the small South American country’s services’ such as peacekeeping in Haiti and Africa. So did the White House guest as he didn’t pin-point imperialist fervour in the US foreign policy.

The saner side of their diplomacy should be reenacted when Obama rubs shoulders with other southern leaders of the continent, especially Cuba’s Raul Castro. Obama’s desire to cultivate cordial ties with his southern neighbours is up for test.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/kt-article-display-1.asp?xfile=data/editorial/2014/May/editorial_May28.xml&section=

(Short article, no more at link.)

[Judi Lynn]

7. Uruguay to sell marijuana tax-free to undercut drug traffickers

Uruguay to sell marijuana tax-free to undercut drug traffickers
By Malena Castaldi
MONTEVIDEO Mon May 19, 2014 10:03am EDT

(Reuters) - Uruguay will exempt marijuana production and sales from taxes in a bid to ensure prices remain low enough to undercut competition from black market pot smuggled in from Paraguay, according to consultants advising the government on a legalization plan.

Congress approved a law allowing the cultivation and sale of marijuana in December, making Uruguay the first country to do so, with the aim of wresting the business from criminals.

"The principal objective is not tax collection. Everything has to be geared toward undercutting the black market," said Felix Abadi, a contractor who is developing Uruguay's marijuana tax structure. "So we have to make sure the price is low."

Uruguay will auction up to six licenses to produce cannabis legally in the next weeks. The government is also considering growing marijuana on a plot of land controlled by the military to avoid illegal trafficking of the crop.

More:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/19/us-uruguay-marijuana-idUSKBN0DZ17Z20140519