Yahoo – AFP,
July 7, 2016
Uruguay government aims to begin registering users by the end of the month authorizing them to purchase marijuana in pharmacies in an effort to undermine drug-trafficking gangs (AFP Photo/Luis Robayo) |
Montevideo
(AFP) - Uruguay will this month start signing up smokers to buy marijuana from
pharmacies in the world's first scheme for state-production and sale of the
drug, an official source said Wednesday.
The leftist
government has begun harvesting its own marijuana and aims to start selling it
in mid-August, the source told AFP.
The
marijuana leaves have been grown under heavy security at privately operated,
state-supervised farms.
"It is
being harvested and dried," said the source, who asked not to be named.
The
government will buy the drug from the producers and sell it on to the
pharmacies. But the amount released for sale will depend on how many users
register.
The
government aims to start registering users by the end of this month, the source
said.
Under a law
passed in 2013, Uruguay already allows users to grow marijuana if they register
as members of state-regulated clubs.
The state
will now expand that initiative to regulate the sale of the drug in pharmacies.
The law
allows for users to buy up to 40 grams (1.4 ounces) a month. Authorized buyers
will be identified by their fingerprints.
The scheme
is being overseen by the state Cannabis Regulation and Control Institute.
Officials
have not ruled out extending sales to establishments other than pharmacies.
The
initiative was launched by former president Jose Mujica as a way to undermine
drug-trafficking gangs.
A poll at
the time indicated that nearly two thirds of Uruguayans were opposed to the
law.
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