Uruguay is considering opening its legal cannabis market to tourists. The country has legalized marijuana and in February, the government announced plans to open a legal cannabis market that would allow visitors from other countries to purchase weed legally in Uruguay.
Uruguay, the world’s first country to legalize marijuana for medicinal and recreational purposes, is contemplating allowing visitors access to its controlled marijuana market. Visitors to Uruguay would be allowed to buy marijuana at approved shops under President Luis Lacalle Pou’s plan, offering a fresh stream of income for the country’s struggling regulated cannabis sector.
According to a story published by Bloomberg this week, Daniel Radio, Uruguay’s secretary-general of the National Drugs Board, stated that the administration’s plan may be presented before the end of the year in order to gather support and create agreement for the idea. Allowing tourists to Uruguay to legally buy marijuana would bring in an extra 3.5 million people each year, many of whom travel from neighboring Brazil and Argentina to enjoy the beaches during the South American summer, which runs from December to February.
“It seems to me that if we come up with a solid proposal,” Radio said in an interview, Uruguay might enable visitors to buy cannabis on its controlled market. “It’s very improbable for the next tourist season, but I wouldn’t rule it out.”
The aim, according to Uruguay’s Deputy Tourism Minister Remo Monzeglio, is not to make the country a cannabis tourism destination. Instead, allowing tourists to legally buy marijuana is an effort to divert purchases from the illegal market and give licensed growers with a new source of revenue.
Uruguay decriminalized marijuana in 2013.
With a bill approved by legislators and signed by the president at the time, Jose Mujica, in December 2013, Uruguay became the first nation in the world to legalize cannabis. Adult nationals and foreign residents may join a government register that enables them to cultivate their own marijuana, join a cannabis buyers club, or buy up to 40 grams of cannabis per month from approved pharmacies, according to the rules.
Supporters of legalizing cannabis in Uruguay claimed that doing so would promote personal liberty, offer a legitimate alternative to the criminal gangs that control the country’s drug trade, and establish a new commodity for export. Despite the fact that marijuana has been legal for eight years, most of the trade is still controlled by criminal gangs, and annual exports have failed to reach $10 million. As more nations legalize cannabis, competition for lucrative international cannabis commerce is heating up.
“I believe there was an overabundance of excitement about the potential for development, since we aren’t playing alone here,” said Radio, who also serves as the director of the cannabis regulating body Ircca.
Exports of cannabis are growing, doubling to $7.5 million by 2020, but still far short of the hundreds of millions of dollars anticipated by some in the business. And today, due to favorable laws and a suitable environment for cultivating the crop, Colombia is developing as a regional powerhouse cannabis producer, presenting strong competition to neighboring nations such as Uruguay.
Colombia’s reputation as a global source for premium cannabis has already been established, according to Camilo Ospina, chief innovation officer for the Canadian-owned PharmaCielo Colombia Holdings, who stated in 2018 that Colombia’s reputation as a global source for premium cannabis has already been established thanks to decades of illicit trade.
The Colombian brand already has a mystique, which gives us an advantage,” Ospina told The Washington Post. “We want to make it such that the Colombian cannabis you’re already familiar with – the Punto Rojo, Colombian Gold – is the cannabis you want to buy.”
Uruguay has adopted new rules to increase imports in order to compete with the competition. Ircca, the country’s cannabis authority, has granted 56 licenses for medical marijuana cultivation, research and development, as well as medicinal and consumer product production.
“Investment in manufacturing and value-added processes is showing up. That has to be our bet, because it’s the only way for Uruguay to remain competitive,” Radio added, pointing to the country’s high labor and energy expenses.
Tourists Would Be Willing to Pay More for Weed
According to Radio, the fastest method to give visitors who register with the national database access to Uruguay’s approved pharmacies and perhaps cannabis clubs is for Lacalle Pou to issue a presidential order. However, a proposal that would enable tourists to Uruguay to buy marijuana without having to join the national register would need new law from the Uruguayan Congress.
In a separate interview, Monzeglio of the tourism ministry stated that he has suggested charging visitors who purchase cannabis in Uruguay greater costs than Uruguayans. He recommended that the extra money be utilized to support addiction treatment and drug rehabilitation programs.
