The medical cannabis industry of Uruguay It has been going through a critical situation for some time, alerted by businessmen in the sector, and which continues to deepen: of the 150 companies that started in business 10 years ago, along with the legalization of the activity, only 34 remain.
Despite the relative success of the legalization of recreational cannabis usewith record sales in 2023 and more than half of consumers turning to the legal market, the industry focused on the variables and medicinal uses of marijuana has not had the same result.
Faced with the closure of companies – of the 150 that existed 10 years ago, only 34 remain – and the loss of jobs, businessmen in the sector demand that the sale of medicinal products derived from the plant cannabis as a first measure of support for the industry in crisis, also due to low demand and the drop in prices in the international market and in exports.
“The markets were limited, sales dropped a lot, prices dropped. So there are companies that stopped producing, companies with overstock that they could not place, and companies that are about to close because they have no way out financially,” he explained to Telemundo. Ricardo Paez of the Chamber of Medical Cannabis Companies.
The request of the cannabis sector is to begin to move towards a reconversion, thinking about the domestic market and also about exports.
“In the recreational market, the supply is not enough, but that solution has to come from expanding production to supply the Institute for Cannabis Regulation and Control (IRCCA) and, on the other hand, on the medicinal issue we do not have internal marketing, In other words, it is an alternative that is also possible for the creation of an internal market,” Páez indicated in this regard.
In that sense, the businessman recalled that in Germany, Israel either Australia Prescription medications made with Uruguayan plants are sold, but in the local market that is not enabled; and it is one of the main aspects that, according to companies, must change to ensure a better future for the national manufacturing industry. medicinal cannabis.
Likewise, Páez said that he believes that there will be continuity in policies regarding legal marijuana, but that there is a lack of education to understand that not everything that comes out of the plant is for consumption as a drug.
Cannabis and the legalization of consumption, another topic of electoral debate
While the businessmen of the medical cannabis industry They hold meetings with the different pre-candidates for the presidency – while demanding that the current government take measures in this regard; Not only is the therapeutic products sector entering the campaign, but the legalization and regulated consumption of marijuana also seems to be entering the field of debate.
In that sense, the secretary of the National Drug Board, Daniel Radioproposed the elimination of the registry for marijuana buyers and, in turn, assured that the registration of self-cultivators should be left permanent to avoid under-registration from people who do not renew their authorization annually.
He also clarified that “he is in favor of there being no more registration of the buyers of cannabis in pharmacies and we are thinking if we do not make a proposal in that sense.” Meanwhile, Radio assured that the advantage is to prevent those who do not want to register from going to the black market and that non-residents could buy.
On the other hand, and after learning that at least two-thirds of parliamentarians agree with regulating the drug market—another issue that has been established to a greater or lesser extent in public discussion—the senators Guido Manini Ríos and Guillermo Domenech, leader and president of Open Town Hall (CA)respectively, were strongly against.
As for Manini Ríos, he assured that in his party “they are against the liberalization of drugs” and believe that “the law that legalized marijuana only increased the number of addicts in the country.” “It is evident that more and more drugs are consumed in the country,” she shot; and directly criticized Radio for its proposal to eliminate the registry of buyers of cannabis: “Here you can’t try to compete to see who makes the best marijuana with drug traffickers, what you have to look for is that people don’t consume more.”
Domenech, for his part, noted that he finds the current administration of the National Drug Board “a disaster,” since “it has completely made invisible the damage that drugs cause to youth.” “We had bad results with the legalization of marijuana,” he considered.
Source: Ambito
