MONTEVIDEO – Uruguay is to become first country in the world where pharmacies can now sell marijuana starting from July 2017.
The tiny South American nation has ended the three-year process of legalizing cannabis consumption for recreational use, the president’s office said in a statement.
“Cannabis will be dispensed in pharmacies starting in the month of July. Sometime in the first two weeks of July,” presidential aide Juan Andres Roballo, the head of the National Drugs Council, said.
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Uruguay adopted a law in 2013 which legalizes the production, sale and consumption of marijuana.
Under the new law, the buyers – who must be 18 or older – have to sign up to a national registry, which Roballo said would be up and running by 2 May.
The registry would only be open to Uruguayan citizens and permanent residents. One gram of cannabis would cost $1.30 (£1).
According to the law, a buyer can only purchase up to a maximum of 40 grams (1.4 ounces) a month.
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Until now, 16 pharmacies have been registered with the government of President Vazquez to sell the cannabis.
The government hopes the legalisation process would “guarantee the quality and the purity of the product” citizens consume, Roballo said.
