Registered drug users should be able to start buying marijuana over the counter from licensed pharmacies in Aprill. " We begin a new experience in April. lt involves a big cutural chang that focuses on public health and the fight against drug trafficking," Uruguay's first lady, Senator Luca Topolansky, said. Other countries have decriminalised marijuana possession, and the Netherlands allows its sale in coffee shops, but Uruguay will be the first nation to legalise the whole chain from growing the plant to buying and selling its leaves.