Latin American Herald Tribune – Peru’s Chronically Ill Seeking Right to Grow Cannabis for Medicinal UsePosted by On

By Carla Samon Ros

LIMA — Obtaining unfettered access to medical marijuana and the legal right to grow the plant are key concerns of patients with chronic ailments in Peru, where a lawmaker’s frank talk about his recreational cannabis use has reignited debate about that nation’s drug policies.

Cannabis has been legalized for therapeutic purposes in that Andean nation since 2017, but in practice it is only distributed to laboratories, none of which have a license to grow the plant, and is sold directly to the public at just three pharmacies in Lima.

But now a bill is pending that aims to loosen the legal restrictions and allow for the prescription-based self-cultivation and associated cultivation (the joining of patients and care providers in associations to collectively grow their own medicine) of marijuana.

The 2017 law that authorized the importation, production and sale of cannabis and its derivatives for therapeutic use was a “cultural victory” for the South American country yet insufficient for the needs of chronically ill patients, who are still forced to acquire the product on an unregulated parallel market.

That is the assessment of actress and activist Francesca Brivio, who was diagnosed with systemic mastocytosis (a disease in which an excess number of abnormal mast cells accumulate in the body) in 2009 and has become a key voice in the…

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By Carla Samon Ros

LIMA — Obtaining unfettered access to medical marijuana and the legal right to grow the plant are key concerns of patients with chronic ailments in Peru, where a lawmaker’s frank talk about his recreational cannabis use has reignited debate about that nation’s drug policies.

Cannabis has been legalized for therapeutic purposes in that Andean nation since 2017, but in practice it is only distributed to laboratories, none of which have a license to grow the plant, and is sold directly to the public at just three pharmacies in Lima.

But now a bill is pending that aims to loosen the legal restrictions and allow for the prescription-based self-cultivation and associated cultivation (the joining of patients and care providers in associations to collectively grow their own medicine) of marijuana.

The 2017 law that authorized the importation, production and sale of cannabis and its derivatives for therapeutic use was a “cultural victory” for the South American country yet insufficient for the needs of chronically ill patients, who are still forced to acquire the product on an unregulated parallel market.

That is the assessment of actress and activist Francesca Brivio, who was diagnosed with systemic mastocytosis (a disease in which an excess number of abnormal mast cells accumulate in the body) in 2009 and has become a key voice in the…



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