MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AP) - The legal sale of marijuana in Uruguayan pharmacies is facing challenges as banks refuse to deal with companies linked to the drug in order to follow international financial laws.

A government official said Friday that Uruguayan banks risk running afoul of laws that ban receiving money tied to the drug. The official was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

In July, marijuana went up for sale at 16 pharmacies as part of a 2013 law that made Uruguay first to legalize a pot market covering the entire chain from plants to purchase.

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MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay - The rules are a bit of a buzzkill. Drug users must officially register with the government. Machines will scan buyers' fingerprints at every purchase, and there are strict quotas to prevent overindulgence.

But when Uruguay's marijuana legalization law takes full effect on Wednesday, getting high will take a simple visit to the pharmacy.

As American states legalize marijuana and governments in the hemisphere rethink the fight against drugs, Uruguay is taking a significant step further: It is the first nation in the world to fully legalize the production and sale of marijuana for recreational use.

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MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay-Tiny Uruguay embarked on an ambitious social experiment Wednesday by becoming the first country to regulate and oversee the sale of marijuana, a policy that has enthralled pro-pot activists and smokers abroad but has lukewarm support at home.

Under tight restrictions, the only establishments licensed to offer marijuana are pharmacies, 16 of which began to sell here in the capital. Pot connoisseurs lined up and then gushed about both buying marijuana legally and the product's quality.

"It tastes great," said Daniel Souza, 48 years old, a hospital worker who lighted up in front of city hall. "This kind of weed is great for creativity. It will be good for my guitar playing."

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Montevideo (AP) - Uruguay is home to the world's first government-regulated national marketplace for pot, so it's not surprising that growers have a competition for best marijuana.

At the Cannabis Cup in Montevideo over the weekend, a panel of regional experts judged entries for aroma, flavour, effects and strength before picking the winners of the best indoor and outdoor crops.

Silver cups were awarded to the winners and all competitors received a jar with samples from others in the tournament.

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MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AP) - Rossana Rilla could sell marijuana under Uruguay's pioneering law that lets pharmacies distribute pot. But she says there is no way she will.

In her 28 years as a pharmacist, she has been beaten, dragged across the floor and threatened by thieves at gunpoint and with a grenade. She fears that selling marijuana would only make her store a bigger target for robbers and burglars.

"You see their faces and you can tell right away that they are not consumers who are here just to buy" marijuana, Rilla said about the "suspicious people" who have recently been coming into her Montevideo pharmacy asking if she sells pot.

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MONTEVIDEO (AFP) - After Uruguay first moved to legalize marijuana in 2013, the approach has taken root in Latin America with several other countries now considering a revamp of their own drug laws. "Someone has to start in South America," Uruguayan President Jose Mujica said in late 2013 as he unveiled plans to make cannabis legal in his country. Under Mujica, Uruguay became the first country in the world to fully legalize marijuana all the way from the cannabis field to the joint, setting up a regulated market for cultivation, sales and use. Though marijuana is not yet being sold in pharmacies, the National Drug Council, or JND, already counts 1,300 of the country's 3.3 million inhabitants registered as self-producers. There are also six clubs of up to 45 consumers.

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The Country Votes Today for a Successor to Jose Mujica, and Candidates Have Doubts About His Headline-Grabbing Reform

Juan Palese, 25, stands outside the door of his Urugrow shop, sharing a red-tipped marijuana joint with a group of young friends. The sweet, pungent aroma of cannabis permeates the street as chattering students from Montevideo's nearby school of social sciences walk heedlessly by. Photograph by Uki Goni Juan Palese sells fertilisers and compost for growing cannabis at home from his shop in Montevideo.

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Uruguay Election Heading for Runoff, No Party Expected to Get Majority in Congress

MONTEVIDEO -- Uruguayan voters decide today whether to give the ruling coalition another term after a decade of strong growth and social reforms, or turn to an opposition candidate who vows market friendly policies but keeping "positive things".

Opinion polls ahead of the presidential election show young center-rightist Luis Lacalle Pou forcing the governing coalition's Tabare Vazquez, a former president, into a runoff vote in late November.

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In a reverse of the bottom-up process playing out in North America, Uruguay's socialist government legalized marijuana in the face of stiff disapproval from the majority of its citizens. Lawmakers believe legalization is the best way to neutralize drug

For a room full of potheads, with a ceiling wreathed in pale grey smoke, there is a surprising amount of bustle in Urugrow on a Tuesday afternoon.

This small shop in the heart of the Uruguayan capital is the premiere location for those seeking to grow their own marijuana, and the three young owners cannot import the big, boxy, vinyl grow kits fast enough.

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There's a revolution happening in the streets of this sleepy South American capital-one full of controversial land mines, landmark precedents and intense international heat.

It's the kind of uprising you can smell, and it's a familiar scent in Colorado.

Marijuana is on the lips and minds of many Uruguayans. While the possession of cannabis has been federally legal here since 1974, the government's recent effort to regulate the sale of recreational marijuana has thrust the quiet, modest country of 3.3million into the international limelight.

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MONTEVIDEO, August 28, 2014 (AFP) - Just a handful of people had registered by midday Wednesday to be private growers of marijuana in Uruguay, the first country to fully legalize the production, sale and distribution of the drug.

Under a controversial law passed last December, marijuana users who sign up for a national register are allowed to grow cannabis, buy it at a pharmacy or join a distribution club.

On the first day of registration for private growers, 10 people had signed up in the morning -- three in the capital Montevideo and seven in the South American country's interior, according to the newly created Institute for the Regulation and Control of Cannabis (IRCCA).

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URUGUAY, the first country to fully legalise the production, sale and distribution of marijuana, has called for bids from private growers who want to farm cannabis in a public field.

The tender seeks up to five growers who will get a licence to farm marijuana plants and sell it to consumers. Growers will be able to produce up to two tons of cannabis per year, to be sold at pharmacies for about $1.08 a gram.

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(AP) - Uruguay's plan to create the world's first national, government-regulated marketplace for legal marijuana may be going up in smoke.

Delays in implementing the plan are putting it at risk as polls point to opposition gains in October's election and reveal that most Uruguayans oppose it. Opposition politicians have said they will seek to repeal or modify the legislation, which gives the national government power to oversee the production, sale and consumption of marijuana.

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MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AP) - A marijuana growing club is taking steps to be the first officially recognized in Uruguay, where lawmakers have made their country the world's first national marketplace for legal pot.

Drug Control Chief Julio Calzada said Tuesday the Association of Cannabis Studies of Uruguay began the process by registering with the Education and Culture ministry.

The club will have 40 members and will be headed by Laura Blanco. She tells local El Pais newspaper that members will pay $300 dollars each to join, and a monthly fee of up to $65. Some of the members will use the marijuana to treat medical conditions.

Uruguayan lawmakers in December approved their country's experiment with marijuana, giving the government the power to oversee production, sales and consumption of a drug illegal almost everywhere else.

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Uruguay will exempt marijuana production and sales from taxes in a bid to ensure prices remain low enough to undercut competition from black market pot smuggled from Paraguay, according to consultants advising the government on a plan for legalization.

Congress approved a law allowing the cultivation and sale of marijuana in December, making Uruguay the first country to do so, with the aim of wresting the business away from criminals.

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(AP) - President Jose Mujica and his cabinet signed long-awaited rules for Uruguay's legal marijuana marketplace on Tuesday. Uruguayan citizens and legal residents 18 or older may now register for licenses to cultivate up to six marijuana plants per household and harvest 480 grams a year, or join a marijuana growing club with 15 to 45 members and no more than 99 plants. Pharmacies are expected to stock government-approved marijuana cigarettes for sale by year's end. Licensed buyers will be able to purchase up to 10 grams a week or 40 grams a month, at a cost starting at about 90 cents a gram, to be adjusted to compete with illegal marijuana.

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(AP) - President Jose Mujica's government has signed rules for a pot marketplace that should stock pharmacies with government-approved marijuana cigarettes by year's end.

Mujica hopes to keep otherwise law-abiding citizens away from organized crime and to treat addiction as a public health challenge.

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MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay - President Jose Mujica said Friday that Uruguay's legal marijuana market will be much better than the system in Colorado, which doesn't track the drug after sale. And he said the medical-marijuana laws many U.S. states have adopted are based on "hypocrisy" because they enable people to fake illnesses to get the drug.

Mujica also predicted Friday that Uruguay's system will be much tougher on drug users and more effective in combating illegal drug trafficking.

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MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay - Uruguayans will be able to buy up to 10 grams of pot a week, enough to roll 20 joints, under new rules governing the recently legalized marijuana trade in the country, a government source said.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because President Jose Mujica has not yet decreed the new regulations, said the government will auction up to six licenses to produce cannabis legally.

Mujica is expected to sign off on the rules in the coming days. He proposed the landmark legalization law to undermine drug trafficking.

Uruguay, the first country to legalize the growing and sale of marijuana, is being closely watched by other countries debating drug liberalization.

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MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AP) - Uruguay's drug czar says every legal marijuana plant in Uruguay will be registered and tracked using radio frequency tags and genetic markers to make sure what's grown here, stays here.

That's a much tougher tracking system than those imposed in Colorado and Washington, which recently legalized marijuana use. Unlike those U.S. states, Uruguay wants authorities to be able to test the pot in any drug user's possession to determine if it came from a registered, legal source.

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