Argentina enacts Cannabis and Hemp Law for industrial and medicinal use
Argentine President Alberto Fernández and Productive Development Minister Matías Kulfas signed the Medicinal Cannabis and Industrial Hemp Law yesterday.
The new legislation, passed by Congress on May 5th, establishes a system of permits for private sector cannabis growers and a federal regulatory agency (Ariccame).
Minister Kulfas estimates that by 2025 cannabis could create 10,000 jobs, US$500 million in annual domestic sales and US$50 million in exports.
“We are implementing a law that was the result of a great consensus,” President Fernández said. “Behind this law there is going to be an industry that produces, that provides jobs, that brings in dollars - but fundamentally that heals.”
The legalization of cannabis for medicinal and industrial use enjoys rare bipartisan consensus in Argentina.
The bill signed by Fernández yesterday builds on a medicinal cannabis law signed by his right-wing predecessor, Mauricio Macri, in 2017 - but which denied a system of permits to private sector parties seeking to cultivate the versatile crop.
Under Macri, moreover, arrests for minor drug possession - mainly marijuana - rose three-fold in four years to 99,000 in 2019. The policy has eased under Fernández - though arrest numbers remain elevated.
“We began to listen to some mothers who made oil with cannabis, who made life more bearable for their children,” the president concluded.
“We are beginning to pay attention, and today we are winning another battle against hypocrisy.”
At: https://www-argentina-gob-ar.translate.goog/noticias/alberto-fernandez-promulgo-la-ley-de-cannabis-y-canamo-para-uso-industrial?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp
Argentine President Alberto Fernández (center) and Productive Development Minister Matías Kulfas (far left) pose with advocates at the Casa Rosada yesterday, after signing the country's historic Medicinal Cannabis and Industrial Hemp Law.
The law establishes a system of permits and regulations for private sector cannabis growers who had previously faced harassment from law enforcement.
“The cannabis fight began with (founding father Manuel) Belgrano in 1797, who was already talking about producing cannabis in Argentina to produce wealth,” Valeria Salech of the advocacy group Mamá Cultiva noted.
“The law taught us that when laws are enacted they are square one. Now we have to work hard to make it as restorative as possible.”
