I am currently in Uruguay, and it is an interesting experience. Uruguay doesn’t get a lot of tourists. There are more cows than people. Not too much to see, but in 2013, Uruguay did something seemingly incredible: it legalized recreational marijuana.

Uruguay was the first country in the world to legalize pot.  Unlike countries such as the Netherlands which merely decriminalized marijuana, Uruguay went for full legalization. With the new law, in theory, criminals no longer have a monopoly on the recreational marijuana market.

Typically, when a pot smoking hears the word regulation or legalization of marijuana, they lite up a joint in honor of liberty and freedom. Well, don’t lite up just yet. There are many flavors of this ice cream.

By Patricia Alvares.

Special soil, humidity gauges, pruning shears and books on growing cannabis are among the items in demand in Uruguay a year after the regulations for producing and marketing marijuana under government control took effect.

"We noticed that there has been increased demand, and it continues because the market was created and it will keep growing," Manuel Varela, owner of a downtown Montevideo store offering items for growing marijuana, told EFE.

"And we also see the growing number of stores like this over the past year," Varela said. "There are now about 20."

Is the push for legalization of marijuana due to a conspiracy between GMO giant Monsanto and the U.S. government? Some people in the organic food community seem to think so.

Governments and communities worldwide are softening their views on cannabis use. Trials of medicinal cannabis have been approved in Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales. And the Australian parliament is currently debating legislation to introduce a government regulator of medicinal cannabis.

During the 1980s and 1990s, as the United States battled the scourge of cocaine throughout the hemisphere, Washington did most of the talking. Latin American governments were forced to listen and fall in line. The American government had the most money to throw at the problem, the toughest justice system and the biggest bully pulpit.

Montevideo (AFP) - Fans of former Uruguay president Jose Mujica, known for fully legalizing marijuana, from the cannabis field to the joint, can now light up in his honor with the new "Mujica gold" strain.

The variety of pot was created "as a tribute" to the colorful iconoclast "in recognition of his work," said Javier Ruiz, part of the team that created the seed.

Under Mujica, Uruguay became the first country in the world to fully legalize marijuana in 2013.

"Mujica gold," with its "fruity and floral" aroma, hit markets last year and was an immediate success, Ruiz told AFP.

The seed already has a committed following of growers.

"Those who cultivate it, cultivate it again," he said.

Uruguay plans to issue commercial growing licenses this year to produce recreational marijuana for distribution through the country’s pharmacies, a senior government official said Tuesday.

“We are working on that,” Milton Romani, secretary-general of the National Drugs Board, told reporters Tuesday in Montevideo. “Assigning licenses to produce a complicated substance isn’t child’s play.”

BOGOTÁ, Colombia — Colombia just discarded a cornerstone of the American-backed fight against drugs, blocking the aerial spraying of coca, the plant used to make cocaine. Bolivia kicked out the United States Drug Enforcement Administration years ago and allows farmers to grow small amounts of the crop.

LOGAN, UT--(Marketwired - May 14, 2015) -Plandaí Biotechnology, Inc. (PLPL) (“Plandaí” or “the Company”), announced today that the Government of Uruguay, through its Institute of Regulation and Control of Cannabis (IRCCA), granted Plandai Biotechnology Uruguay S.A. a provisional license under the Marijuana and Derivates Law 19.172, Decree No.46/2015, Articles 6 and 9, to establish a scientific program for the research, and development of prescription cannabinoid medicines.