By Jon Hiltz

 

The small South American nation of Uruguay has proven that you don’t need to be a wealthy global player to make huge waves. Back in 2013, they turned prohibition on its head by becoming the first country on earth to legalize recreational marijuana.

Pot’s close cousin hemp has now found favor with Uruguayan cultivators as a result of the government’s low price cap and strict production limits on marijuana.

Hemp is a globally traded commodity worth over $1 billion, and growers in Uruguay are preparing to cash in.

In an interview with Bloomberg Markets, the CEO of International Cannabis Corp., Guillermo Delmonte, said “Recreational cannabis is regulated by the government and we sell what the government lets us sell. In the hemp market we can produce all we can to meet demand.”

The Uruguay-based cultivators are not fooling around. It is reported International Cannabis Corp. is already in advanced talks with five European and South American pharmaceutical and food companies to supply additives like Hemp oil and other plant extracts.

Four companies currently hold hemp permits, and the government is examining permit requests from two additional companies.

The government is also rapidly expanding distribution of hemp’s sexy cousin cannabis, as pharmacies will begin to sell pot to Uruguayans everywhere. Strangely enough, out of the over 1,200 pharmacies in the country, a reported 50 have signed up for the program, citing everything from worries about security to simply not wanting cannabis to “tarnish their image.”

While the cannabis rollout continues, Uruguay is positioning itself to be a world power in the hemp industry.