Uruguay is poised to become the first nation to legalize and regulate the production, sale and consumption of marijuana. This would place Uruguay in the vanguard of countries with liberal drug policies, surpassing even The Netherlands, where recreational drugs are illegal but a policy of tolerance is in place.

The bill, which was passed by Uruguay's Chamber of Deputies and will be taken up by the Senate, attempts to answer the questions that inevitably arise when debating drug policy: How will marijuana be regulated? Who will grow it? How can the country avoid cannabis tourism?

The Uruguayan government offers specific proposals for how to manage a legal market for marijuana.The government supports the marijuana bill and says it was designed to resolve issues particular to Uruguay. But the model the bill proposes will undoubtedly be studied by other countries that grapple with similar questions.

There is a contradiction in Uruguayan law, the secretary-general of the country's National Committee on Drugs, said: Consumption of marijuana has been legal, but its production and sale are not.

The other proposals in the marijuana bill treat the use of weed as a health issue and make a distinction between dangerous drug traffickers and consumers.

The same debates about marijuana that exist in the United States -- about medicinal properties, recreational use, the impact on the justice system -- have been happening in Uruguay for a long time, Calzada said. The decision to push legislation to overhaul its drug policies did not come overnight.

"We have reflected on our problems," Calzada said, and the government felt that Uruguay's tradition of tolerance and equality merited action on the marijuana issue.

President Jose Mujica's Broad Front coalition has a majority in the Senate, making passage of the marijuana bill likely when the chamber considers it in October. Then, Mujica has said, he will sign it into law.

However, the progress that the bill has made is at odds with what polls say is the will of the people.

According to a CIFRA/Gonzalez, Raga and Associates poll in July, 63 percent of Uruguayan respondents said they disagreed with the bill. Only 26 percent said they approved. The poll, which surveyed more than 1,000 Uruguayans and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points, is not much different from earlier polls published when the bill was proposed.

"The government does not overlook the polls and public opinion," Calzada said, but the government believes it is in the best interest of the country to go forward with the bill.

It is not the executive branch, but the Congress that will pass the law, and voters will decide in the next elections whether to "punish" the ruling party for going against public sentiment, he said.

The marijuana bill could be modified by the Senate, but as it is currently written, it provides several paths for the legal production and sale of marijuana, while increasing health education about the risks of drug abuse.

In short, the proposed law states that the planting, cultivating, harvesting and selling of marijuana remain illegal but adds a long list of exceptions to that rule.

Households may grow up to six plants and harvest a maximum of 480 grams of weed per year. Another avenue would be the creation of "membership clubs" made up of between 15 and 45 people, who can grow up to 99 marijuana plants.