For a room full of potheads, with a ceiling wreathed in pale grey smoke, there is a surprising amount of bustle in Urugrow on a Tuesday afternoon.
This small shop in the heart of the Uruguayan capital is the premiere location for those seeking to grow their own marijuana, and the three young owners cannot import the big, boxy, vinyl grow kits fast enough.
But the store is also an informal clearinghouse of information on how to join a “cannabis club,” a meeting point for would-be foreign investors who want in on the new commercial cannabis market opening up here – and the first destination of hopeful tourists from other countries looking to score a bag of weed. (They can’t – under Uruguay’s new law, only citizens can buy, and only from the state.)