5 years after legalizing cannabis, Uruguay struggles to meet demand

5 years after the cannabis legalization, Uruguay is still struggling to meet demand. Uruguay was the first country in the world to legalize cannabis in 2013, but legal sales did not begin until last year.

Uruguayan law allows consumers to purchase 40 grams of cannabis at a pharmacy each month. But so far, only 14 of the 1,200 planned pharmacies are distributing cannabis. Furthermore, the two legal cannabis producers supply only one-third of the 30 metric tons of cannabis consumed each year in the country.

«Demand exceeds our production capacity.» said Diego Olivera, head of Uruguay's National Medicines Council. «We must rise to the challenge.»

Laura Andrade, a sommelier and medical patient, is not always able to get her medications at the pharmacy.

«Today, I'm going to have to buy from an illegal dealer. I don't have a choice. This system is crap. It's useless!»

Diego Olivera attributes this situation to the difficulty of establishing a new industry.

«We had no experience with large-scale cultivation, and it took us a while to finally get this technology, the workforce, and the drying process up and running,» he explains.

The problems encountered also stem from the fact that most investors in the industry were inexperienced.

«It’s a complex industry, and the investors behind these companies don’t come from the cannabis sector,» explains Eduardo Blasino, an agricultural engineer. «If you tell them, »We need to buy 50 fans’—something that’s actually necessary in some cases—they look at you as if you were an alien.”

Beyond the difficulty Uruguayans face in accessing legal cannabis, misdemeanors and crimes have increased since cannabis was legalized, largely because the black market has never been more thriving.

Diego Olivera remains confident, however. «We never expected to eliminate the black market overnight; it’s always been a gradual process. It doesn’t happen overnight.»