AKIPRESS.COM - Uruguay plans to begin legal sales of marijuana grown under government control by year's end, President Jose Mujica said Wednesday.

Mujica said the process was complex because it was regulated by the market. “It will be grown in one place, probably in an armed forces' facility. There will probably be private producers, but under certain conditions.”

Predicting that sales would begin in December or January, Mujica said the marijuana would be cloned to reproduce the same genetic code, which would give the plants a clear identifier for tracking.

In December, the South American country became the first country in the world to regulate the market of sales of cannabis and its derivatives in an plan considered a bold experiment by authorities frustrated with losing resources to fighting drug trafficking.

The law authorizes the production, distribution and sale of cannabis, allows individuals aged 18 and older to grow their own on a small scale, and creates consumer clubs under state supervision and control.

Legalization of marijuana in the country of 3.2 million inhabitants has also drawn the interest of pharmaceutical companies around the world, who want to buy the drug for medical uses.