Uruguay struggling to meet demand for legal marijuana

By Leonardo Haberkorn

Laura Andrade recently walked out of a pharmacy in Uruguay cursing loudly because she couldn’t buy legal pot. The wine sommelier had taken a bus since pharmacies in her neighborhood don’t sell the drug, but a pharmacy employee told her to come back the next day. “I work, I can’t come here every day,” she complained. “Today, I’ll have to buy from an illegal dealer. I have no choice. This system is crap. It’s useless!”

Marijuana went on sale in Uruguay last year under a 2013 law that made it the first nation to legalize a pot market covering the entire chain from plants to purchase. But the country is still working out how to meet demand in its effort to undercut drug traffickers who control the black market.

“The demand is greater than our productive capacity,” the head of Uruguay’s National Drugs Council, Diego Olivera, told The Associated Press. “We have to address that challenge.” It’s exactly the opposite of the problem facing some U.S. states that have legalized marijuana — an oversupply. Oregon and California have such a glut that sellers are slashing prices.