| dc.description.abstract | This thesis is based on six months of fieldwork conducted in Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay. The country legalized cannabis in 2013, but during my fieldwork only two of three aspects of the law were implemented. It was legal to cultivate privately or join a cannabis club, but there are no places to legally buy the product. In the thesis, I aim to explore different aspects of the cannabis movement in the country. In the first empirical chapter I look at how my informants perceive cannabis, by comparing it to other substances, like alcohol, tobacco and other drugs. The second empirical chapter, seeks to explore the microeconomic responses to the legalization. I elaborate on the gift economy that has emerged, before turning my attention to a new type of grey market where entrepreneurs work in the grey zone of the law by illegally selling legally cultivated cannabis. The last part of the thesis examines the cannabis ritual, and by comparing it to a similar type of ritual regarding yerba mate, I explore how cannabis fits the Uruguayan pattern of consumption. My main argument is that there is a growing culture in the wake of the legalization of cannabis. | eng |