Why are national cannabis growers interested in the Argentine experience of adopting legislation regulating the development of modern cannabis farming in the country?

Government officials are primarily concerned with creating conditions for the development of domestic producers (primarily small and medium-sized enterprises), as well as the need to restore order in the uncontrolled market of various hemp products and drugs that exist today in Argentina and the need to put an end to the spread of hemp products. which do not have any control over their composition and quality.

In mid-July 2021, the Argentine Senate approved a bill regulating the regulatory framework necessary to create a production chain, industrialize, and commercialize the hemp plant, its seeds and derivatives for industrial and medical use, including scientific research (the bill has now been passed to for consideration in the Chamber of Deputies of the country).

Among other things, the bill provides for the creation of a regulatory structure ARICCAME, which will be the governing body and determine the most promising production chains of modern cannabis production in Argentina. This state structure will have "technical, functional and financial autarky and will be subordinate to the Ministry of Industrial Development of the country."

It should be noted that the regulatory and legal framework being created is aimed, among other things, at “regulating the already functioning informal market for oils and other inadequately formulated herbal preparations, which exists today in Argentina and will put an end to the distribution of products that do not have any control over them. composition and quality ".

Argentina's Industrial Development Minister Matías Kulfas says that “we are talking about activities that create skilled jobs. It can be expanded with a very important network of small and medium-sized enterprises, cooperatives, large, medium-sized and state-owned national companies that have been in this market for a long time and specialize in research and development related to modern cannabis production. The country can develop production, and if we focus on the highest quality, we will have a product that is highly regarded internationally. We want the modern cannabis industry to be born as an Argentinean brand. This economic sector includes more than 200 types of resources and end products, so there is a huge space for national producers, where projects of any complexity and capital intensity can be implemented. "

Commentary of the specialists of the Association "Ukrainian technical hemp"

Legislative power in Argentina belongs to the Congress, which consists of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated what the financial costs will be and how many new positions will be created if the bill under consideration is approved. In particular, the Office for the Regulation of the Hemp and Medicinal Cannabis Industry (Agencia Reguladora de la Industria del Cáñamo y del Cannabis Medicinal, ARICCAME) will annually cost the country's taxpayers about $ 159.1 million, of which $ 91.8 million (57, 7% of the total) will be allocated to salaries for the 28 new jobs created.

I would like to draw your attention to the fact that if the bill is adopted, ARICCAME in Argentina will be subordinate to the Ministry of Industrial Development of the country, which should immediately indicate that the therapeutic use of individual plant components does not imply the creation of appropriate structures in public authorities specializing in protection of the health of citizens. Government officials not only in Argentina understand that the development of modern cannabis breeding should be dealt with by a state structure specializing in economics and promising areas of development, but not as lobbying for the interests of foreign pharmaceutical companies. 

In addition, the position of the Minister of Industrial Development of Argentina says that government officials are primarily concerned with creating conditions for the development of domestic producers (primarily small and medium-sized enterprises), as well as the need to restore order in the uncontrolled market of various hemp products and drugs. that exists today in Argentina and the need to put an end to the proliferation of hemp products, which do not have any control over their composition and quality.

To our deepest regret, what is axiomatic for government officials of Argentina is not reflected in any way in the lobbied bill, which is currently under consideration in the relevant committees of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. In connection with the above, as part of the training of the next stream of students of the "Hemp University" within the framework of the specialized round tables, their participants will be offered to initiate certain steps aimed at the development of the modern cannabis market in Ukraine, which will be further considered during the consideration of bill No. 5596.