{"id":8154,"date":"2018-03-23T21:06:26","date_gmt":"2018-03-23T21:06:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.420magazine.com\/?p=14355"},"modified":"2018-03-23T21:06:26","modified_gmt":"2018-03-23T21:06:26","slug":"heres-what-uruguay-has-learned-when-it-comes-to-legalizing-weed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/heres-what-uruguay-has-learned-when-it-comes-to-legalizing-weed\/","title":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s What Uruguay Has Learned When It Comes To Legalizing Weed"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/heres-what-uruguay-has-learned-when-it-comes-to-legalizing-weed\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><p>Uruguay became the world\u2019s first country to legalize cannabis when pharmacies started selling the product last summer. Things have worked out well so far, the country\u2019s top marijuana regulator said, although challenges remain as producers struggle to secure bank financing and the government grapples with supply shortages.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe moved the frontier of what is possible,\u201d Martin Rodriguez, director of Uruguay\u2019s cannabis regulatory authority, said in Washington, D.C. during the launch of a report on the country\u2019s experience with legalization.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe model in Uruguay is different from other regions, but the objectives are similar,\u201d Rodriguez said on Thursday during an event organized by the Brookings Institution and the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA). \u201cThis is better than the prohibition of cannabis for local populations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>PHARMACIES AS DISPENSARIES<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The country of 3.5 million allows cannabis to be sold at select pharmacies without a prescription as the country does not offer a separate system for medical marijuana users. Citizens of Uruguay \u2014 not tourists \u2014 s can purchase up to 40 grams per month at the pharmacies<\/p>\n<p>The price of marijuana in Uruguay has been set at $2.50 per gram, according to a report from Komoron Law, a Michigan-based firm which advises clients on cannabis issues.<\/p>\n<p>Currently, only two companies have been licensed to produce commercial cannabis in Uruguay, the report said, and more than 22,000 Uruguayans have registered as purchasers.<\/p>\n<p>This duopoly presents a problem, said John Hudak, a senior fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution. \u201cThere are supply issues in the country,\u201d he said, citing \u201cthe limited amount of cannabis produced in a given harvest.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSometimes the amount of cannabis delivered to a pharmacy doesn\u2019t meet the demand,\u201d Hudak added.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CANNABIS CO-OPS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Uruguayans who don\u2019t want to buy weed from pharmacies can instead join registered cannabis clubs to grow their own marijuana. These cooperatives must have less than 45 members and cannot dispense more than 480 grams of marijuana to a single member in a given year.<\/p>\n<p>Uruguay currently has 83 cannabis clubs, said the report, and more than 8,200 Uruguayans have registered as homegrowers.<\/p>\n<p>Foreigners are not allowed to purchase cannabis in Uruguay, so the black market remains an issue despite the product\u2019s low price, said Alicia Chavert, the owner of a Uruguayan pharmacy which dispenses cannabis near the tourist city of Punta del Este, arguably South America\u2019s most important resort town.<\/p>\n<p>When legalization first came into effect, \u201csome members of the public believed that security and violence would become issues around the pharmacy\u201d and promised to boycott the store, Chavert said. Those fears have not materialized, but the business faces challenges in securing bank financing.<\/p>\n<p><strong>THE CANADA CONNECTION<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Large banks, fearful of running afoul with U.S. financial regulators, have stayed away from Uruguayan companies that deal with cannabis, something that hinders the industry, the report said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt makes pharmacies have a choice between continuing to sell cannabis or to be a cash only business,&#8221; said Hudak.<\/p>\n<p>Canada\u2019s plan to legalize recreational cannabis this summer, however, could relieve some of the pressure on Uruguay if Canadian banks jump into the sector, the report said. In January, the Bank of Montreal became the first major bank in Canada to lead an equity financing deal with a legal cannabis producer.<\/p>\n<p>As the first G7 nation to legalize recreational cannabis \u2014 with a powerful banking sector and close ties to the U.S. \u2014 it\u2019s less likely that U.S. banks or financial regulators would take action against Canadian banks than smaller Uruguayan lenders for financing cannabis companies, the report said.<\/p>\n<p>While Canadian lenders could potentially ease some of the pressure on Uruguay, the small nation has some lessons for Canada and other countries moving towards legalization.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUruguay has done well to keep with a strict regulatory model, while expanding the space,\u201d said John Walsh, co-director of drug policy for the Washington Office on Latin America. \u201cIf you start strict, it\u2019s easier to loosen up later.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.420magazine.com\/420-news\/international-cannabis-news\/heres-what-uruguay-has-learned-when-it-comes-to-legalizing-weed\/\">Here\u2019s What Uruguay Has Learned When It Comes To Legalizing Weed<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.420magazine.com\">420 MAGAZINE \u00ae<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Uruguay became the world\u2019s first country to legalize cannabis when pharmacies started selling the product last summer. Things have worked&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.420magazine.com\/420-news\/international-cannabis-news\/heres-what-uruguay-has-learned-when-it-comes-to-legalizing-weed\/\" class=\"read-more\">[Read More]<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.420magazine.com\/420-news\/international-cannabis-news\/heres-what-uruguay-has-learned-when-it-comes-to-legalizing-weed\/\">Here\u2019s What Uruguay Has Learned When It Comes To Legalizing Weed<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.420magazine.com\">420 MAGAZINE \u00ae<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1616,9,1,3],"tags":[4184],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8154"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8154\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}