The regulation, which will come into effect in the coming months, also allows for the manufacturing of these products in laboratories, the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) reported in a statement.
The Anvisa is analyzing the possibility of allowing the cultivation of medicinal cannabis.
In recent years, several countries in Latin America have legalized cannabis for medicinal use, including Uruguay, Chile, Colombia, Argentina, Mexico, and Peru.
President Jair Bolsonaro has previously expressed support for medicinal cannabis. However, the ultraconservative leader “will not allow loopholes in the
law to be used for the planting and consumption of marijuana,” his spokesman Otavio Rego Barros told reporters in August.
Since 2015, Anvisa has allowed individuals with a medical prescription to import cannabidiol, or CBD, a non-psychoactive derivative of cannabis, for the treatment of epilepsy and chronic diseases.
The new regulation allows the sale of products with a concentration of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC – the main psychoactive constituent responsible for the intoxicating effects of cannabis – greater than 0.2 percent for terminal patients or those who have exhausted alternative treatment options.
Others will be able to purchase medicinal cannabis products with a THC concentration of less than 0.2 percent.
Source: Medicalxpress


