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As Canada prepares Wednesday to become the second-largest country in the world to legalize the use of marijuana, experts in Uruguay said its pioneering decision three years ago had helped reduce traffic of drugs in the South American country.
While the public initially rejected the project presented for the first time by the left-wing president, Jose Mujica, in power from 2010 to 2015, attitudes have gradually changed, the population now largely supporting this movement.
Uruguay has legalized the production, distribution and sale of marijuana for recreational purposes in December 2013 before allowing the sale of the drug in pharmacy from July 2017.
Things seem to be going well for the country of 3.5 million people, only 10% of the Canadian population.
There are three ways to access cannabis in Uruguay: grow it at home, up to six plants per person; cultivate it in a club as part of a cooperative; or buy it in the pharmacy.
Those responsible for fear who had predicted that the project would lead to a deluge of doping prevarications have proven to be wrong up to now, according to Monitor Cannabis.
The university group studying the government's marijuana project said cannabis use had "shown an increase that was not extraordinary in view of the trend" observed before legalization.
The main difference between illegal and legal periods is that it has become easier to track the evolution of marijuana use.
Official statistics from the Institute for Regulation and Control of Cannabis (IRCCA) show that 54% of cannabis users regularly do so by legal means, which was not their case before.
Four types of marijuana are available in Uruguay. They are sold in packets of five grams at a price of $ 1.40 per gram. Registered users – citizens or foreign residents – can buy up to 40 grams per month.
– logistical difficulties –
This has not been quite simple, however, logistically.
United States legislation has posed many problems, ranging from harvesting problems to banking system limitations for businesses operating in the cannabis sector.
But Uruguay has 7,000 registered farmers, 107 cooperative production clubs, 28,500 registered buyers and 17 distribution pharmacies.
Bank restrictions, the fear of attracting criminals due to the presence of drugs in the stores and the mere opposition of some pharmacists to the project have resulted in only a small number of pharmacies choosing to sell marijuana .
But between July 2017 and July 2018, 100% of the 1,200 kilograms (2,645 pounds) of marijuana produced were sold to the public.
Buyers even queued in front of pharmacies once stocks were restored, alerted by the pharmacists themselves.
Production, however, does not meet the demand, which means that some people continue to buy the drug by illegal means, even if they prefer not to do so.
"The priority is to increase the scope of the system," says sociologist Sebastian Aguiar in his book: "A Year of Advances and Opportunities".
If each registered buyer could purchase the maximum allowance of 40 grams, "50% of the total annual cannabis demand would come from the illegal market, which is $ 22.5 million".
This is all the more relevant as Mujica stated in the presentation of his plan that the legalization strategy was aimed at combating drug trafficking.
However, not everyone wants to encourage increased marijuana use.
President Tabare Vazquez launched on Oct. 1 a campaign titled "Regulate, Be Responsible", which aims to provide information on "the risks, effects and potential damage" caused by the l & # 39; cannabis use.
Uruguay legally produced 1,200 kilograms of marijuana between July 2017 and July 2018, of which 100% was sold to registered users.
There are three ways to access cannabis in Uruguay: cultivate it at home; cultivate it in a club as part of a cooperative; or buy it at the pharmacy
Marijuana production in Uruguay does not meet demand
Enrique Curbelo sells marijuana in her pharmacy in Montevideo, Uruguay.
