Felipe Neis Araujo reflects on the Brazilian development, or lack thereof, around the supply of medicinal cannabis.
A year ago, Argentina passed a law legalizing the cultivation of medicinal cannabis. This great leap in drug policy came just before the UN voted to remove the weed from Annex IV of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, thus recognizing its therapeutic properties, and allowed Argentine citizens register to grow your own medicine in your backyards or anywhere. they see fit. Argentina had already legalized medical cannabis in 2017 and is now aiming to become a major player in the international market.
While our Argentine brothers are dedicated to advancing their national medical and industrial cannabis policies and frameworks following in the footsteps of Uruguay, Brazil is lagging behind. The year is approaching and, again, the legalization of medical cannabis was not passed by law. The bill proposing the regulation of the herb for medicinal purposes was voted on June 8 in the House, but an appeal to take it to the full House has sent it back to the bottom of a drawer. Patients and their families are still waiting for House Speaker Arthur Lira to deliberate on the appeal. It’s important to remind readers that Lira is a close ally of President Jair Bolsonaro, who called the bill “shit” and vowed to veto it if passed.
Meanwhile, the medical cannabis market in Brazil is gaining momentum, and 2021 will be a record year for global investors importing medicinal cannabis products. The Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency (ANVISA) has authorized the import of several new products, with patients spending £ 10 million on 66,000 prescriptions. We even had the first case of legally imported CBD flowers. Those who do not have access to expensive imported or domestic medical products, however, must continue to rely on either patient associations or civil disobedience to obtain their medicines that can restore their lives. It is also worth noting that the vast majority of patient associations are not licensed to grow or process cannabis.
Between 2015, when ANVISA first authorized the import of medicinal cannabis products, and in 2020, the number of applications for authorizations to import these products grew by 2,400%. This growth has led ANVISA to recently optimize the patient registration process so that they can obtain their authorizations and medications more quickly. However, it’s still not as simple as taking a prescription from your local pharmacist and buying your medicine, and the immediate need for relief can still lead people to get their medicine from alternative and illegal sources.
Here is an anecdote that illustrates it. When my late mother was diagnosed with lung cancer 3 years ago, she decided not to take conventional treatment. She was aware of the consequences of this decision, but she wanted to live the rest of her days or years at home, surrounded by loved ones instead of hospital staff. She also knew very well that CBD oil could help her with many of the symptoms that her illness would bring. He didn’t bother going through the whole bureaucracy to get a 30ml bottle of herbal oil. He approached family friends who knew they had been using the oil for a long time. Some of them cultivated their own plants and made their own medicine. Others had access to people who would do it or to patient associations. People would come to my mom’s house for dinner or a cup of coffee and bring me a bottle of CBD oil. They would send you bottles by mail. He would try to pay them but no one would take his money. Sometimes he would buy a lot from an association, take his share, and then send the other bottles to families who couldn’t afford it. “These drops are magical,” he often said. “Now, can you imagine the relief of a mother watching her son’s seizures stop?”
The therapeutic potential of cannabis is widely known, both anecdotally and through academia and research. Current Brazilian governments and their allies, however, distort the debate and seek to inflame their electorate with their populist propaganda, claiming that legalizing medical cannabis will lead to widespread non-medical consumption. It is the year 2021, and right-wing politicians and pressure groups continue to hinder debates and the legalization of medical cannabis by saying that we do not yet have enough information about its medical potential, the same year that there were a number record of scientific publications. on the therapeutic potential of the herb, with nearly 4,000 newly published works. However, those who oppose regulation and legalization, who throw up scary slogans of drugs, do not want to acknowledge this evidence.
What ideologues and opportunists want, however, is to confirm their biases. This is their definition of evidence: anything that can be decontextualized, chosen, and put together to validate their opinions and positions. They often prefer to consume news of police repression against people who consume or sell illegal substances, and feed their generation rather than any human understanding of misery. When the data and subsequent analysis show that there is no “drug epidemic,” delegitimizing old and tired methods of punishing drug use and distribution, the evidence is censored. Or just ignored.
In 2022 he knocks on the door and brings with him the Brazilian general election. So, fellow citizens, enough votes for the troglodytes, opportunists and enemies of the people. This is, at the moment, the only way to make effective progress in drug policy in Brazil, where in recent years we have taken several steps back in this direction. We have a lot of ground to cover and recover. As the saying goes, the struggle continues. Happy New Year!
