Chile has just planted 6,900 cannabis plants for therapeutic use. This action could lead to total decriminalization.
In the United States, a study recently showed that the legalization of therapeutic (and recreational) cannabis had not led to an increase in its use among adolescents. Information that has not fallen on deaf ears, or rather Chileans.
Indeed, Chile planted thousands of cannabis plants on Monday for the development of a drug aimed at improving the daily life of patients with cancer or epilepsy.
The drug ready in 2017
“This second plantation (after a first experience of 400 plants last year) has 6,900 plants grown on an area of one and a half hectares,” Alejandra Ahumada, a chemist, told Agence France Presse (AFP). of the Daya foundation, project manager.
aTested by the Agricultural and Livestock Service (SAG) of the municipality of Colbun, 260 kilometers south of Santiago, this program is supported by 20 Chilean municipalities, which hope to benefit from this product in order to help some 4,000 patients.
“We start with the cultivation, then will come the harvest and finally the development of the drug. This is an important project in which other organizations are involved. We hope to have the drug ready in 2017, ”Ahumada added to AFP.
The cannabis-based drug will be developed by a private laboratory in close collaboration with the Chilean Public Health Institute.
As a reminder, lto the Daya foundation and the municipality of La Florida, south of Santiago, had obtained in September 2014 the very first permit to plant marijuana. At the time, this had made Chile the first country in Latin America to cultivate cannabis for therapeutic purposes. Then followed by Uruguay.
Last April, it was even in front of photographers and cameras that these activists presented the 400 plants more than two meters high.
A hard drug in Chile
The Chilean agricultural authority also authorized last January a project by the Agrofuturo company for the planting of marijuana for the manufacture and export of cannabis oil for medicinal purposes. At the same time, Chilean cannabis legislation is very strict and considers marijuana a hard drug. Authorities have, however, authorized the cultivation of cannabis for therapeutic purposes.
The Chilean Parliament is currently discussing a bill to decriminalize its consumption for medicinal and recreational purposes.
Marisol Touraine authorized by a decree of June 5, 2013 that medicinal products derived from cannabis be the subject of a marketing authorization application (AMM). In January 2014, the Minister of Health announced the MA for Sativex for people with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Due to a deadlock in negotiations around the price, this product is still not marketed in France.
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