Gabriela Cerruti is under fire for pic of marijuana plant she posted on Twitter.
A glamorous Argentine politician has sparked outrage after she posted a picture of a marijuana plant in her house on Twitter.

Gabriela Cerruti was labeled a “drug pusher” by many of her 54,500 Twitter followers and is now facing calls to quit her post after uploading the picture.

Despite the uproar, the 46-year-old claims the stunt was intended purely to provoke debate about legalizing the drug in the country, in the same way as neighboring nation Uruguay plans to do.

The offending picture of the plant alongside another flower was posted with the caption: “One was given to me by my mother, the other by (gay rights activist) Alex Freyrem, can you can guess which is which?”

@GABICERRU VIA TWITTER

Cerruti later said, “I thought it would be nice to publish the photo, but I will not play the innocent. I think we have to discuss the decriminalization of marijuana.”

The centre-left New Encounter politician for the capital city of Buenos Aires added, “When I was just posting pictures of my orchids, nobody was shocked.”

And the mother-of-two claimed that the plant would “never produce anything.”

Her protestations did nothing to deter a wave of abuse on the social networking site, and from callers in to various chat shows on national television where she later appeared.

But Cerruti consistently made reference to the decriminalization of the drug in Uruguay, announced by President José Mujica earlier this month.

He said his government hoped to eliminate the black market of the substance through the proposal, which would see cannabis smokers allowed to buy 20 cannabis cigarettes from the state per month.

Mujica said, ”We are losing the battle against drugs and crime in South America. Somebody has to be the first.”

Interior minister Eduardo Bonomi added, “The negative effects of consuming marijuana are far less harmful than the outbreak of violence associated with the black market.”