Uruguay's roll-out of marijuana experiment faces election risk

A man rolls a marijuana joint in Montevideo, in this October 17, 2014 file photo. REUTERS/Andres Stapff/Files

MONTEVIDEO (Reuters) - Uruguay is struggling to roll out the commercial production and sale of marijuana and its ground-breaking experiment could be dropped or watered down if an opposition candidate wins this month's presidential election.

The South American country is the world's first to permit the cultivation, distribution and use of marijuana, aiming to wrest control of the trade from drug gangs while at the same regulating and even taxing its consumption.