Argentina has regulated the use of the therapeutic properties of cannabis individually or by social groups

Spot changes to the current regulatory framework will allow Ukrainian patients / consumers in 2021 to legally grow and use the therapeutic properties of the hemp plant without resorting to structures that make money through the mediation or patenting of what is in the plant itself by nature.

On November 12, the Argentine government regulated the possibility of growing cannabis for individual patients or groups of people who want to use the therapeutic properties of the plant for medicinal purposes. In addition, the Regulation 883/2020 (published in the official gazette of the government of the country) allows the sale of creams and oils made on the basis of the therapeutic properties of the hemp plant through pharmacies. 

The above decree represents changes to the regulatory legal acts that entered into force in March 2017, which regulated the possibility of using hashish oil for medical purposes, but retained the ban on the cultivation of plants with significant therapeutic potential by individual patients or groups of people.

According to the information set out in the explanatory note to the above regulation, this Ordinance is aimed at providing “fast, safe, comprehensive and secure access for those who need to use the therapeutic properties of the hemp plant”. 

In particular, the rules regulated by the above Regulation state that the sale of oils and creams made from medical hemp in pharmacies, as well as individual or organized cultivation of hemp plants, are allowed for users, researchers and patients who are registered in the Reprocann program ("National Hemp Program" - created in accordance with the law adopted in 2017, but at the moment it is not yet fully operational).

Patients and parents of children suffering from serious illnesses who use the therapeutic properties of cannabis to improve their quality of life welcomed the adoption of the above-mentioned normative legal act. In particular, according to the activists of public organizations who advocated the regulation of the legal possibility of using the healing and healing properties of cannabis “The therapeutic properties of the plant are effectively used to treat epilepsy, fibromyalgia, oncological, neurodegenerative, autoimmune, and other diseases. We do not want to deal with these issues illegally, so the adoption of Ordinance 883/2020 will be a serious step so that Argentine citizens can use the therapeutic properties of the plant inherent in it by nature itself as efficiently as possible and at the lowest cost. "

In turn, government officials argue that "the national government will encourage the community to produce hemp with therapeutic properties and ensure access to the plant for patients not covered by relevant government programs."

Commentary of experts of the Association "Ukrainian technical hemp"

In 2013, Uruguay became the first country in the world to regulate the cultivation of cannabis with significant therapeutic potential for home use, as well as the creation of grower clubs for co-cultivation or the legal procurement of the necessary raw materials through pharmacies. On the territory of our country, there is a legal possibility of growing therapeutic hemp, and the varieties of plants created and already entered in the corresponding state register by national breeders make it possible to treat a huge range of diseases known to science by methods that exclude extraction. 

Taking into account this postulate, within the framework of the developed concept of amending the current legislation of Ukraine, the question is raised not so much in amending laws / bylaws / departmental documents (the period for regulating this issue stretches for several years), but in regulating the possibility of using technical hemp for therapeutic purposes without any -or restrictions not only by legal entities (this mechanism has been in effect for several years), but also by individuals. Those. targeted amendments to the current regulatory framework will allow Ukrainian patients / consumers in 2021 to legally grow and use the therapeutic properties of a hemp plant without resorting to structures that earn money through the mediation or patenting of what is in the plant itself by nature.