Marijuana club operator Marco Algorta is seen growing a strain known as “Colombian Red” in a rooftop greenhouse on June 22 in Montevideo, Uruguay, the world’s first nation to fully legalize cannabis.
Credit: Nick Miroff/The Washington Post

MONTEVIDEO, URUGUAY — In coming weeks, cannabis-seeking citizens in this small South American nation will be able to walk into a pharmacy and buy government-approved marijuana for the state-mandated price of $1.30 a gram. No questions asked. No doctor’s note required.

If that sounds like an attempt to create a stoner republic on the South Atlantic, would-be tourists should know a few things.

Uruguay is the world’s first country to fully legalize the production, sale and consumption of marijuana. But under its strict rules, there will be no Amsterdam-style smoking cafes, and foreigners won’t have access to the national stash.

Nor will there be shops selling ganja candies, psychedelic pastries or any of the other edible derivatives offered in pot-permissive U.S. states such as Colorado and Washington, where entrepreneurial capitalism fertilizes the United States’ incipient marijuana industry.

Instead, Uruguay’s government […]