MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay — Uruguay’s plan to create the world’s first national, government-regulated marketplace for legal pot might 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 say most Uruguayans oppose a legal pot marketplace.
Opposition politicians have said they will seek to repeal or modify the legislation. President Jose Mujica and his Broad Front movement have promoted the plan as a way to deal with rising homicide and crime rates associated with drug trafficking.
It wasn’t until Friday, almost three months after the pot law went into effect, that the government made its first call for applications from those interested in growing pot for the legal market.
Experts say the delays are because of the fact that no other country has attempted such a plan.
Opposition Colorado Party presidential candidate Pedro Bordaberry said, “The entire project is one big improvisation.”
The most recent poll said only 27 percent of Uruguayans surveyed approve of the law and 64 percent oppose it.
