MONTEVIDEO - Uruguay passed a law on Tuesday allowing its citizens to grow, buy and smoke marijuana, becoming the first country to legalize the full cycle from cultivation and distribution to consumption of the drug.

The Senate voted in favor of the government-sponsored bill, a pioneering social experiment that will be closely watched by other nations debating drug legalization.

People participate in the so-called "Last demonstration with illegal marijuana" on their way to the Congress building in Montevideo, as Senate debates a government-sponsored bill establishing state regulation of the cultivation, distribution and consumption of marijuana during a session, December 10, 2013. [Photo/Agencies]