Authorities say nearly 5,000 people have registered as consumers allowing them to buy marijuana when sales start today. About two-thirds live in the capital, Montevideo.
The price is set at the equivalent of USD 1.30 per gram.
Ninety cents of that goes to the two businesses chosen to cultivate the marijuana. The rest is split between pharmacies and the government, which will use its share to fund prevention programmes.
The packing comes with a seal of authenticity and warnings about the drug's effects.