By no means is Uruguay leading the world in cannabis sales, despite the South American nation being the first country in the modern era to legalize adult use of the plant when former President José Mujica signed legislation in December 2013.
After adding cannabis to its approved list of domestic crops, Uruguay launched commercial adult-use cannabis sales in July 2017. In the six years since, the nation’s licensed pharmacies have sold 10.7 million grams, or roughly 23,600 pounds, according to data released July 19 by Uruguay’s Institute for Regulation and Control of Cannabis (IRCCA), El País reported.
In comparison, Michigan, which has roughly three times the population of Uruguay, is averaging roughly 79,000 pounds of adult-use cannabis flower sold monthly at retail this year.
With 3.4 million people in Uruguay (roughly the population of Connecticut or Utah), there are more than 61,500 people registered to purchase cannabis from the 37 pharmacies authorized to sell it, according to the IRCCA. Three companies are licensed to cultivate three cultivars for the commercial adult-use market: Two of the cultivars are capped at 9% THC and the third is capped at 15% THC, El País reported.
“The production processes of cannabis sold in pharmacies are carried out under strict controls and have traceability in each of its stages,” according to the IRCCA. “Each commercial batch prior to its release to the market is analyzed in [one of five] specialized laboratories in terms of both microbiological parameters (counts and absence of pathogens) and physicochemical parameters (heavy metals, pesticides, etc.).”
Prior to federal legalization, the Uruguayan government largely tolerated recreational consumption under some of the most relaxed cannabis regulations in the world, according to Higher Yields, a Denver-based international cannabis business consulting firm. While cannabis transactions were illegal prior to 2013, there were “informal agreements” between individual consumers and government officials who harbored access, according to the firm.
The 2013 signed legislation allowed the Uruguayan government to better track who was growing cannabis, where and how much they were growing, and how much they were charging.
Currently, there are roughly 14,600 people registered for home cultivation and 10,500 cannabis club members at 306 registered clubs, which are licensed organizations that allow members to cultivate, harvest and process cannabis for their own use, according to IRCCA.
IRCCA regulators suggest that Uruguayans “do not resort to the illegal market with the risks that this implies especially in terms of health, since the product that is dispensed there does not comply with the quality controls [of the licensed market].”
