As debates over hashish reform proceed around the globe, Uruguay stays the one nation with greater than a decade of real-world records on complete adult-use legalization. That milestone took on new importance this 12 months with the dying of José “Pepe” Mujica, the previous president who championed the sector’s first nationwide legalization framework.
Mujica’s regulation, handed in 2013, used to be by no means about cash in. It aimed to dismantle hypocrisy, give protection to public well being and scale back the harms of prohibition. As of late, his imaginative and prescient lives on via Uruguay’s hashish device, which continues to adapt and be offering insights to international locations nonetheless grappling with reform.
At C-Days 2025, an international hashish and psychedelics summit held in Barcelona, Mercedes Ponce de León, founding father of Latinnabis and director of Expo Hashish Uruguay, introduced a data-driven replace on Uruguay’s hashish style: what has labored, the place demanding situations stay and what the sector can be informed from it.
3 Criminal Channels, Over 100,000 Registered Shoppers
Uruguay’s adult-use device lets in for 3 felony pathways to get entry to hashish:
- House develop: As much as six flowering feminine vegetation and 480 grams according to 12 months
- Hashish golf equipment: Non-profit associations of 15 to 45 individuals, with as much as 99 vegetation and a 40-gram per 30 days cap according to particular person
- Pharmacies: As much as 10 grams a week, offered in 5-gram packs, with 4 THC-limited traces licensed (as much as 20% THC)
As of early 2025, 102,125 customers have been formally registered via those channels:
- 11,465 house growers
- 15,162 hashish membership individuals
- 75,498 pharmacy shoppers
The rustic has over 460 authorized golf equipment and 40 pharmacies taking part in this system.
What’s To be had and at What Price?
Pharmacies stay the most typical get entry to level, providing 4 traces with distinct THC and CBD profiles. Hashish is offered in sealed 5-gram packs, with costs set by means of the federal government:
| Pressure | %THC | %CBD | Psychoactivity | Worth (UYU) | Approx. USD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alfa | ≤9 | ≥3 | Medium/Low | $470 | $11.24 |
| Beta | ≤9 | ≥3 | Medium/Low | $490 | $11.71 |
| Gamma | ≤15 | ≤1 | Top | $550 | $13.15 |
| Épsilon | ≤20 | ≤1 | Top | $600 | $14.34 |
In spite of fashionable get entry to, restrictions on efficiency, product structure and availability proceed to restrict have an effect on and shopper pride, Ponce de León famous.
Is It Running?
Sure, however no longer with out caveats. In line with respectable records introduced at C-Days:
- Problematic hashish use has remained solid at 2.1% since 2011
- Total hashish intake declined from 14.6% in 2018 to 12.3% in 2024
- Reasonable age of first use rose from 18 to two decades outdated
- The illicit marketplace has reduced in size considerably
Uruguay’s 2024 Nationwide Drug Survey confirmed that 37% of hashish customers now get entry to the plant via felony way.
What Nonetheless Wishes Paintings?
In spite of sure public well being results, the style faces power demanding situations:
- Restricted product selection and innovation
- Asymmetric geographic get entry to, particularly outdoor main towns
- Logistical and fiscal limitations to exports
- A broader drug coverage framework that continues to be punitive in different spaces
Ponce de León defined 4 priorities for 2025 and past:
- Foster more potent public-private collaboration
- Spend money on analysis and building
- Replace rules to make bigger felony get entry to and support consumer enjoy
- Combine Uruguay into international markets via moral and sustainable business
What’s Subsequent?
Uruguay did what many nations are nonetheless debating. It constructed a felony hashish device that reduces hurt, shrinks the illicit marketplace and respects shopper rights. The results are measurable. So are the gaps.
In Ponce de León’s phrases:
“The sure have an effect on is confirmed. But when the framework isn’t up to date, if get entry to doesn’t make bigger and innovation isn’t assured, the style dangers changing into symbolic quite than practical.”
As the sector displays at the legacy of José “Pepe” Mujica, Uruguay’s hashish experiment stays a part of his lasting imprint on historical past. The street forward will decide whether or not that legacy deepens or stalls.
By way of El Planteo
Picture by means of Jared Schwitzke on Unsplash.
