Uruguay’s President Lectures Americans on Cigarettes and Becoming a Bilingual Country

Marijuana was
legalized earlier this year in Uruguay, where individuals are
now permitted to grow up to six plants or buy 40 grams per month
from the government. Uruguay’s president, Jose Mujica, visited the
White House today, deciding to lecture Americans.

Although he played a major role in getting the legislation
passed in his country, he didn’t talk about marijuana legalization.
Instead he showed that the way the left approaches marijuana
legalization often precludes greater freedom of choice in substance
use and decisions about your body. Channeling his inner Bloomberg,
Mujica went after cigarettes and cigarette companies.
Via The Hill:

Mujica, a farmer and former guerrilla, said the world
was in “an arduous fight” against “very strong [corporate]
interests” who were promoting tobacco use.

“In the world, 8 million people are dying from smoking” each year,
Mujica said, adding, “it’s murder.”

American tobacco company Phillip Morris is currently suing Uruguay
for $2 billion at the World Bank’s International Center for
Settlement of Investment Disputes, arguing that a 2009 law
requiring graphic health warnings on cigarette packs violates
intellectual property rights.

Mujica reportedly wants President Obama to help with the
lawsuit. The Uruguayan president then turned to immigration,
avoiding policy specifics and instead addressing language. The
Hill
again:

“We live in a time when we need to learn English
— yes, or yes?” he asked. “And you will have to become a
bilingual country — yes, or yes? Because the strength of Latin
women is admirable, and they will fill this country with people who
speak Spanish and Portuguese, too.”

Learning more languages is a plus for most people, and America
is home to more than 400
languages, among the highest counts in the world. Americans
will learn more languages when it benefits them, just as Mujica
observed that Uruguayans and other non-English speakers have
learned English for their benefit. It’s a shame he can’t extend
that to marijuana and even cigarettes, and accept that people will
buy and sell what they want to buy and sell more efficiently than
government can mandate anything.