Uruguay, which in July will become the first country selling state-produced cannabis in pharmacies for recreational use, will open a user registry on Tuesday, authorities said.

Any Uruguayan or permanent resident wishing to purchase cannabis in that way will be required to register.

The drug will be sold for $1.30 per gram, in five and 10-gram packets, with each user limited to 10 grams (0.35 ounce) per week.

For now, Uruguay has a supply of 400 kilos (880 pounds) of marijuana on hand, produced by two private firms under state control.

This report, prepared by the foreign law specialists and analysts of the Law Library of Congress, provides a review of laws adopted in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, the Czech Republic, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, and Uruguay with regard to decriminalization of narcotics, and touches specifically on cannabis and legalization.

Uruguay will begin selling cannabis in pharmacies from July, the final stage in the country's pioneering regularisation of the drug.

The South American country will be the first in the world to legally sell the drug over the counter for recreational use.

The move was set in motion in 2013 with a law that fully legalised the cannabis trade.

However, it has been a slow process to put the law into practice.

"Cannabis will be dispensed in pharmacies starting in the month of July," presidential aide Juan Andres Roballo told a press conference.

The law requires buyers to sign up to a national registry, which Mr Roballo said would be up and running by 2 May. The price will be US$1.30 (£1) per gram.

Starting as soon as 2018, some Canadian ACMPR patients may see CBD-based medicines become more affordable, thanks to an international relationship announced in a recent press release between Canada-based licensed producer, Emblem Cannabis Corp, and Uruguayan cannabis firm, ICC.

With the modern climate of legalization, and cannabis research becoming increasingly approachable, scientists continue to discover new information about how and why individual ingredients within cannabis can be used to effectively treat medical conditions. The most commonly known active ingredient within cannabis is THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), and though the ingredient CBD (cannabidol) is not a new discovery, it is rapidly growing in popularity among enthusiasts and medical patients alike.

Policymakers should regulate the potency of cannabis products such as skunk and oil, aiming for a chemical balance that reduces the risk of psychosis without losing the drug's pleasurable effects, experts said on Thursday.

With cannabis laws becoming more liberalized in many countries - particularly the United States - there is also an urgent need for more detailed and accurate scientific studies to explore how cannabis use can be made safer, the experts said.

"Worldwide there is a trend towards liberalization and increasing consumption," said Robin Murray, a professor at King College's London's the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience.

The South African parliament has listened to a motion to legalize the cultivation and usage of cannabis sativa or marijuana.

South Africa is set to legalize the cultivation and use of marijuana, known locally as “dagga,” as early as April 2017, making it the first African nation to permit its usage for medical purposes, reports Afkinsider.

History of the Bill

In 2014, Mario Oriani-Ambrosini, a South African MP elected on the platform of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), moved a motion in parliament calling for the legalization of marijuana for medical usage.

Attitudes in Latin America are shifting away from supporting prohibitionist policies, but they are far from consensus and the policy implications are unclear.

Sentiments in Latin America in favor of outlawing marijuana appear to be undergoing shifts in some countries, according to researchers in Chile and the UK.

A study published the International Journal of Drug Policy found that, in some parts of the region, more than 40% of respondents supported legalizing the drug, while in other, more conservative areas, support remained minimal.