The Legalization with State Control Experience The marijuana legislative policy of Uruguay, South American country, comes closest to this model. In 2013, the Uruguayan Government implemented measures designed to establish “regulated market for the non-medical use of marijuana� [18]. Under this marijuana regime, the price is set by the government and marijuana can be accessed via three means. 1) Personal cultivation of up to 6 plants per household with a maximum annual yield of 480 grams. 2) Marijuana membership clubs, where between 15 and 45 members can collectively grow up to 99 plants, proportional to the number of members, with the maximum annual allotment of 480 grams of dried product per year per member. These cooperatives must be registered with the government-created regulatory body, the Institute for the Regulation and Control of Marijuana (IRCCA). Production yields above the allotted amount must be turned over to the authorities. 3) Sales in licensed pharmacies where government registered Uruguayan adult residents can purchase up to 10 grams of marijuana per week [19]. Essentially, the government is the main supplier of marijuana over which it exercises control of the quality, quantity, and price of the product. Other feature of the marijuana regime includes: 1) The IRCCA has a right to inspect any property used in the cultivation, processing, distribution or sale of marijuana. 2) A pharmacy may only receive two kilograms of marijuana monthly in deliveries every 14 days and prescriptions cannot be refilled before 30 days.[18] Sales and Price The initial launch of the initiative was met with some challenges that suppressed interests, but by the time the authorities implemented the last stage of the marijuana law, which included marijuana sales commencing in 16 pharmacies across the country, sales surged, and the number of registered users jumped from 4,900 prior to July 2017 to over 22,000 as of January 2018. Prices, while set at a fixed amount by the government, have seen some movement upwards; starting at US$1[20] at the start of legalized sale in 2013, the price has increased to roughly US$1.30 per gram in 2017 and again to US$1.40 per gram by January 2018 [18]. Costs of Implementation and Enforcement Furthermore, a 2016 report by The Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA ) reported that the operating costs of the regulatory agency, the IRCCA, was US$650,000 in 2016 and is estimated to grow to US$1.2 million by 2020 [18,21]. From this total operating costs in 2016, of US$138,192 were derived from marijuana-related fees, these fees are predicted to grow to US$ 656,412 by 2019 and will surpass the budgetary allocations to the agency. See Figure 6.
Figure 6: Budgetary Allocations and Estimated Fees to the IRCCA
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