Presidential Decree Permits Cultivation Of Medical Cannabis In Argentina

The cannabis plant possesses tremendous medical value according to tens of thousands of peer-reviewed studies, as well as countless personal experiences among patients.

Cannabis is medicine, despite what cannabis opponents say. The science speaks for itself and outweighs the harmful political views of cannabis opponents.

A number of conditions can be successfully treated with medical cannabis, and fortunately for suffering patients in Argentina they will be able to cultivate their own medical cannabis in some circumstances, as described in a news release from our friends at NORML:

Patients and their caregivers will be able to apply for federal licensure to grow marijuana for medicinal purposes in their homes, according to a Presidential decree issued late last week.

The policy change expands upon a 2017 law that provided a legal exemption under the law for qualifying patients with epilepsy to possess cannabis extracts. However, that law provided to legal source to provide patients with access to plant-derived extracts.

Under the new law, pharmacies will also for the first time be able to provide specific cannabis products to qualifying patients. “We are replacing a black market that already exists with quality control that is key in all medical products, particularly those that are given to children,” said Argentina’s health minister, Ginés González García.

Argentina is one of a number of South American countries, including Chile, Colombia, and Peru, that has moved in recent years to liberalize medical cannabis access. In July of 2017, pharmacies in Uruguay began selling cannabis products over-the-counter to adults participating in the nation’s marijuana registry.