Marijuana

Cannabis Bill Presented To Argentinian Legislature, CLR Speaks With Buenos Aires Lawyer Diana Barreneche 

http://www.marijuanadrugfacts.com/marijuana/cannabis-bill-presented-to-argentinian-legislature-clr-speaks-with-buenos-aires-lawyer-diana-barreneche

Yesterday new cannabis legislation was presented to the Argentian legislature in an attempt to move along the process of getting a workable set of laws for medical patients and start both,  a regulated medical cannabis & industrial hemp sector in the country.
Earlier in the week we spoke with local lawyer Diana Barreneche who has been involved in drafting elements of the bill  to get a little background about the current state of play of regulated cannabis & hemp in Argentina and what the new legislation hopes to do in order to kick start the country’s medical cannabis sector into action.

Diana Barreneche

 

 

Background

We opened our conversation with Diana by asking if she could elucidate on what is and isn’t currently possible under current regulation in Argentina and like most countries outside Canada, Uruguay and the US the answer was fairly predictable, not a lot !
Currently the country operates under these two pieces of legislation
  • Laws: Criminal Law (narcotic substances) 23.737/89
  • Law for the Research of medical cannabis (27.350/17, recently (re)reglamented with the Decrete 883/20 that allowed new ways to access the cannabis (flowers or resin) prescribed by a doctor)
Diana’s response can be summarized in the following simple bullets

Currently

  • No Personal  Adult Use
  • No Licenses For Production
  • Medical Cannabis is available for those willing to jump through hoops and deal both with government departments and be prepared to go to court to get a judge to approve the import of a specific medical product as well as decide who pays for that product ( private medical insurance / the government / the individual)
  • Medical self grow is a possibility but to precis,  it isn’t a simple process

 

 

Cannabis Knowledge Lacking

As with most countries where there has been a conservative approach to personal and medical cannabis use knowledge has been in short supply with Barreneche intimating that not only do the politicians have a long way to go but also the judiciary, medical profession and civil service all of whom it will be incumbent upon to formalize and manage any system put into place after legislation has been voted on.

 

 

The Legislation

Presented 15 June 2021 the legislation aims to do a number of things.

It aims to create a regulated environment for both medical cannabis and industrial hemp and via input from Argentina’s many cannabis patients associations the push is also for an equitable and knowledge based  approach to the prescribing and use of medical cannabis in the country.

 

 

Hemp regulation also plays an important part with Argentina looking to start growing industrial hemp
(at 1% THC limit) to produce biofuel, textiles, paper and construction materials.

It looks as though there will be a single agency dealing with all aspects of medical and industrial licensing, compliance & regulation.

With regard to recreational (adult use) the current draft bill doesn’t broach the subject.

 

 

Here’s the Bill  (PDF/Spanish)

 

Argentina cannabis leg

 

For more information about the bill please contact

Law Firm: F&B Canna

 

Adriana Friedheim
Diana Barreneche 
dianabarrenechel@gmail.com
Also,  patient organizations appear to be the key to forcing through changes and the best way to keep up with current developments so we would also suggest connecting with.
CIUDAD AUTÓNOMA DE BUENOS AIRES 
IG/Facebook: fybcanna
NGO: Proyecto Cáñamo Project Hemp
President Diana Barreneche 
ARGENTINA
IG/Facebook: Proyecto Cáñamo