Chill, man…legalizing marijuana takes time
Sanebull on Legalizing weed… is not as easy as it sounds. Believe it or not, Uruguay was the first country to legalize the drug nationally in 2013. And Uruguay wants to do things the right way; but doing things the “right way” involves a lot of time and restrictions to show everyone that the country itself is in control of the system. This means only 14 pharmacies in the entire country can legally sell marijuana.
Here are the issues… first, only two companies are licensed to grow in Uruguay, Symbiosis and Iccorp. Next is the fact that pharmacies in Uruguay go through United States banks which cannot serve accounts that are involved in the marijuana biz. This means marijuana transactions must be cash-only which has presented a barrier for most pharmacies to get involved. But if more do get involved, the currently supply will not be enough from just two distributors.
Drug dealers hate it… because regulated cannabis has slowed the black market for it down – it is estimated about 55% of marijuana users are using the regulating system to get their fix. Marijuana is also priced in-line with the black market to hinder competition from illegal sources. So some good has come out of legalization after all; but the other “good” things will take time…
