02 August 2014 (02:47 UTC-07 Tango)/05 Shawwal 1435/11 Mordad 1393/07 Ren-Shen 4712

In December 2013 the South American country of Uruguay became the first country to fully legalize marijuana (since the age of prohibition).  Now the government is looking to hire farmers to help get the budding industry growing.

However, space is limited to just five lucky farmers.

The Institute of Regulation and Control of Cannabis (IRCCA) will grant just five farmers license to operate publicly regulated marijuana farms.  The application deadline is 18 August.  The farms will grow up to 2-tons per year, and sell to pharmacies at a fixed price.

The IRCCA will also provide security guards for the farms.

The IRCCA says studies show marijuana is safe, and the true cause of violence is prohibition: “Violence fueled by the drug trade, especially in Latin America, has clear social, economic and human costs: thousands of people have died in the ‘war on drugs’……..prohibition as a method of control and regulation of the use of drugs has failed. During the course of prohibitionist policies demand and drug supply has only increased in Uruguay.  There is no scientific evidence that marijuana is the gateway to other drugs. In fact 90% of marijuana users never tried cocaine base and 73% never tried cocaine.”

Under the new law legalizing marijuana, users must register with the government and are limited to 40 grams (1.4 ounces) per month.