Yahoo – AFP,
Mauricio RABUFFETTI, July 19, 2017
Montevideo (AFP) - Pharmacies in Uruguay started selling marijuana Wednesday under a four-year-old law that has made the small South American country the first in the world to legalize pot from production to sale.
A man shows two envelopes containing marijuana he just purchased at a pharmacy in Montevideo, on July 19, 2017 (AFP Photo/MIGUEL ROJO) |
Montevideo (AFP) - Pharmacies in Uruguay started selling marijuana Wednesday under a four-year-old law that has made the small South American country the first in the world to legalize pot from production to sale.
At a
pharmacy in Montevideo's Old Town, five customers were waiting to buy when the
store shutters went up at the start of the day, and lines grew longer as the
day went on.
"I've
been smoking since I was 14. Let's give it a try," said a 37-year-old man
who would not give his name.
"It's
funny," a pharmacy employee told AFP on grounds of anonymity. "In two
hours we filled only three prescriptions, but 30 people came to buy
marijuana."
Some
pharmacies saw as many as 20 people lining up to make their first legal pot
purchase.
"We
did not expect this kind of movement," said Sebastian Scafo, 33, a
pharmacy manager.
In all, 16
pharmacies have been authorized to sell marijuana under state controls, barely
enough to cover a country of 3.5 million people.
No major
pharmacy chain has agreed to sell the drug.
Many
pharmacies have been unwilling to participate in the scheme because of concerns
about security and doubts that the small market of registered users is worth
the trouble.
Only about
5,000 people, most of them age 30 to 44, have signed up as prospective buyers
since Uruguay's state registry opened in early May.
Walk-in
sales are not allowed under the law, and only residents of Uruguay can register
to buy pot -- thereby preventing marijuana tourism.
Graphic on
estimated prevalance of cannabis use around the world (AFP
Photo/John SAEKI,
Laurence CHU, Adrian LEUNG)
|
Blow to
drug-dealers?
Among those
trying the new legal distribution system was Xavier Ferreyra, a 32-year-old
city employee, who was making his first purchase at a pharmacy in Montevideo's
Old Town.
He said he
saw two main advantages to the new approach: "safety and the quality"
of the drug, adding, "I no longer have to go buy it in some slum."
Pharmacy
sales are the last of three phases set out under the 2013 law.
Under the
early phases, nearly 7,000 people registered to grow weed at home, and more
than 60 smokers' clubs were authorized.
Only two
companies were authorized to produce marijuana for pharmacies -- under military
protection, and with no public access.
The state
Institute for the Regulation and Control of Cannabis (IRCC) has authorized the
sale of two types of marijuana, to be sold in five-gram packets.
On Monday,
the National Drugs Council tweeted an image of what the packages would look
like: blue-and-white sealed sachets that look something like condom packets.
An
"Alfa I" package contains "Alfa I variety cannabis hybrid with
Indica predominant."
Another
sort has "Beta I variety cannabis" with Sativa. The levels of THC --
the psychotropic constituent in cannabis -- are given on the outside, for
consumer information.
The packets
also bear a "Warnings" section about the risks of consuming marijuana
and recommendations on how to do it more safely.
People line
up in front of a pharmacy to buy marijuana in Montevideo, on
July 19, 2017 (AFP
Photo/MIGUEL ROJO)
|
'A
marvelous plant'
The buyers
who talked to AFP reporters all said they had bought 10 grams of pot, a packet
of each variety on sale.
The packets
are being retailed at $6.60 each, according to the IRCCA.
Customers
are identified through a digital fingerprint reader, which allows them to buy
without having to show other forms of identification in the store.
Uruguay's
goal in legalizing the sale of marijuana for recreational use is to cut down on
illegal smuggling.
Camila
Berro, a 24-year-old business student, walked out of a pharmacy smiling, two packets
of pot in hand.
"I
feel very lucky to be able to get it legally," she said. "I have
friends in other countries who were imprisoned for smoking a joint."
To
Ferreyra, the municipal worker, "Uruguay has taken a very big step... I
hope one day they can legalize a lot more drugs."
And former
President Jose Mujica, who enacted the marijuana reforms while in office from
2010 to 2015, said that while "no addiction is good," it was
"horrible to condemn a marvelous plant."
Uruguay, he
added, is "trying a new path."
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