Uruguay has become the first country to completely legalise cannabis.

The country became the first place in the world to permit the professional cultivation of marijuana plants in 2014 and from July new legislation it will be legal to sell it over the counter.

The move will make it the first country in the entire world where anyone can buy or sell the drug.

In countries who are more famous for their lax approach to cannabis, such as the Netherlands, the drug remains technically illegal even if the law is not enforced and local authorities will grant licences to shops and cafes selling it.

Demonstrators lighting up outside the seat of the Uruguayan government in Montevideo (Photo: AFP)

In other places, such as the US, weed has been legalised by individual states but it remains illegal at a federal level.

The move to legalising marijuana came after public outcry over the arrest of a 66-year-old intellectual, Alicia Castilla, who was arrested in a police raid at her home when she was in garden watering her cannabis plants in 2011.

The writer, who is originally from Argentina, had recently retired to Uruguay.

She told The Observer she was taken to a police station where she spent the night handcuffed to a bench.

Although weed possession has never been illegal in Uruguay, which prides itself on its open-mindedness and liberalism, its cultivation and sale risked a sentence of between two and 10 years in prison.

People smoking during the second annual "Cannabis Cup" to find the best weed in Montevideo in 2015(Photo: AFP)

The case soon made national headlines with the public demanding the release of “the reefer grandmother”.

Thousands marched in the country’s towns and cities demanding her release and these protests soon developed into a full blown campaign for legislation.

 

People enjoying a spliff in Montevideo earlier this month (Photo: AFP)

Ms Castilla, now 72, said: “The media coverage was crazy. Legislators started bringing legal marijuana draft bills for me to look at in prison”.

She was eventually released after three months in prison after the supreme court dismissed her case.

 

People will be able to keep up to six house plants for their own use (Photo: Getty)

The new bill will mean some restrictions will still apply: home growers will need to register with the government for a permit to keep a maximum number of six plants and cannabis clubs will only be allowed a maximum of 45 members who are each allowed to withdraw 40g per month from their collective crop.

Consumers meanwhile will be able to buy weed at a cheaper price than they would do on the street but all sales must still go through pharmacies and they must register with the government first.

Drug law around the world

Central and South America

Other parts of Latin America continued with the “war on drugs” started by America in the 1970s.

In places such as Colombia they are waging wars on gangs who traffic drugs to the US.

The region has been riven by violence and corruption for decades as rival gangs killed each other, kidnapped civilians and assassinated politicians to protect the supply of harder drugs such heroin and cocaine over the border.

 

Countries have become more relax about their own citizens' drug use while cracking down on the gangs that push them north of the border (Photo: Reuters)

But in recent years countries have been lightening up on their laws regarding their own citizens’ drug use. Last year, Mexico made possession of up 5g of cannabis and 500mg of cocaine for immediate personal use legal.

Portugal

The European country became the first country in the world to completely legalise possession of all drugs in 2001.

All the sale of the drugs remains illegal, anyone found with them in their possession is instead subjected to a small fine and given a referral to a drug treatment programme rather than getting a criminal record and possible jail time.

This has meant the rate of overdoses among Portuguese adults has fallen to three per 1 million citizens per year, according to the European Drug Report in 2015.

The Netherlands

Although Amsterdam is famous for its cafes where people can buy weed, the drug remains technically illegal.

Dutch police rarely prosecute cannabis users, especially if they are found with 5g or less.

Coffee shops are granted the rights to trade by local authorities but they too are technically banned from buying marijuana.

As the law on drugs in the country is vague, they tend to use third parties who source the weed for them and bring it to their door.

As soon as it is on their property, and remains less than 500g at a time, police are willing to look the other way.

The UK

Possession and sale of marijuana remains illegal in the UK though police forces across the country are becoming increasingly tolerant of cannabis for personal use.

The government famously fired drugs expert, Professor David Nutt, in 2007 when he published a pamphlet disagreeing with its plan to increase cannabis from a Class C to Class B drug.

Class B drugs carry a maximum penalty of up to five years in prison for possession and up to 14 years for supply.

There has been a small political clamour for reform with the Liberal Democrats pledging to set up a legal and regulated market for cannabis.