A new report from a cannabis industry analyst firm based in Washington, D.C., New Frontier Data, argues that Latin American cannabis is well-positioned to be a big player in the global cannabis industry \u2014 and that it is already on the way.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince Uruguay in 2014 became the first nation to legalize adult use cannabis, its neighbors throughout the Latin American region have begun in varying degrees to embrace possibilities and policies for reform,\u201d writes Giadha Aguirre de Carcer, founder and CEO of\u00a0New Frontier Data<\/a>, in the introduction to its newly released\u00a0\u201cLatin America Regional Cannabis Report: 2019 Industry Outlook<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Aguirre continued: \u201cAs the international community increasingly addresses cannabis reform\u2026 myriad opportunities are manifesting themselves in places where not long ago such activity seemed unimaginable.\u201d<\/p>\n The report states that 13 million of the 600 million people in Latin America use cannabis at least one a year. The report estimates the total market value of cannabis in\u00a0Latin America<\/a>, both legal and illicit, to be worth $9.8 billion.<\/p>\n The report was prepared in conjunction with Sao Paulo-based\u00a0The Green Hub<\/a>, which bills itself as \u201cthe first company focused on leveraging initiatives\u201d in Latin America\u2019s medicinal cannabis market.<\/p>\n It examines four major markets in the region, and one smaller one with potential to emerge in the coming years. It finds that \u201cLatin America will play an increasingly important role in the evolving global cannabis marketplace, and the legal regulated industry will be a catalyst for economic development, job creation, and new opportunities in healthcare and wellness across the region.\u201d<\/p>\n The report, not surprisingly, starts with\u00a0Uruguay<\/a>, the first country on Earth to establish a fully legal adult-use industry. Consumers can access legal cannabis in Uruguay through home cultivation, cannabis clubs or pharmacies. Legal users must register with the Institute for the Regulation and Control of Cannabis (IRCCA<\/a>) and select one of the three sources as their sole means of access. The IRCCA is about to begin receiving applications for additional commercial producers to supply pharmacies.<\/p>\n The program has not gotten off to entirely smooth start. Uruguay\u2019s market faced significant supply shortages after its launch in 2017. Initial delays were caused by the IRCCA\u2019s failure to adequately coordinate distribution. Then, the first batch of cannabis produced by local firm\u00a0Symbiosis<\/a>\u00a0did not pass IRCCA testing (for genetics, mold, bacteria, pesticides and other contaminants).<\/p>\n Despite the fact that sales are restricted to Uruguayan citizens and permanent residents, the New Frontier report sees \u201ccannatourism\u201d nonetheless emerging in the country. \u201cA common way of providing cannabis to non-residents is through illegal but not strictly monitored \u2018cannabis tours,\u2019 where customers ostensibly pay for cultural or social tours during which they receive cannabis.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2028<\/b>The report sees\u00a0Colombia<\/a>\u00a0\u201cpositioning itself to be a global exporter of medical cannabis derivatives.\u201d The country is said to boast \u201cinexpensive cultivation costs, ideal growing conditions and experienced cultivators.\u201d<\/p>\n Colombia is expected to produce cannabis at a fraction of the cost of exporters like Canada, and its\u00a0geographically central location is advantageous for global business: \u201cIt sits at the center of the Americas, with access to both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.\u201d<\/p>\n A legal medical cannabis industry began in Colombia in 2015, although then-President Juan Manuel Santos insisted it would not be a step toward full legalization. \u201cSocial stigma still surrounds cannabis users in a country with a long history of drug conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n Open-air greenhouses are the preferred method for cannabis cultivation in Colombia, exploiting the country\u2019s 12-hour light cycle. This \u201cresults in lower energy costs relative to indoor cultivation techniques and can apply to any of Colombia\u2019s regions.\u201d<\/p>\n As of this year, 68 of 73 manufacturing licensees are authorized to manufacture for export. But despite its advantages, Colombia faces a challenge in catching up to the countries already established in the cannabis export market. The\u00a0International Narcotics Control Board<\/a>\u00a0reports that over the past five years, the U.K. and the Netherlands were consistently the top two exporters of legal cannabis.<\/p>\n Brazil, with the region\u2019s largest population, is also home to its greatest number of cannabis users \u2014 an estimated 4.2 million. The report states: \u201cMedical cannabis is legal in Brazil, and possession and cultivation of personal amounts are decriminalized.\u201d These are somewhat misleading statements, however, as the\u00a0medical program<\/a>\u00a0is CBD-only, and mandatory treatment programs are sometimes imposed even for possession of small quantities.<\/p>\n Brazil\u2019s medical cannabis program is the fruit of activism and litigation. In April 2014, a judge permitted the importation of CBD-based products for a mother to treat her five-year old epileptic daughter. Since then, patients have been able to obtain special authorization from the National Health Surveillance Agency (ANVISA<\/a>) to import CBD treatments. Over 79,000 units of such products been imported into Brazil since ANVISA authorized CBD use in 2015.<\/p>\n Mexico<\/a>\u00a0may be poised for progress unprecedented in the region. Following a ruling by its highest court in late 2018 that prohibition is unconstitutional, Mexico is expected to fully legalize cannabis for adult use. And while its medical program is, for now, CBD-only and reliant on imports, this may also be changing soon.<\/p>\n Many view legal cannabis as a means to address Mexico\u2019s daunting social and economic challenges.<\/p>\n \u201cThe main social concerns about violence, corruption, and economic issues are mirrored by the political objectives of incoming\u00a0President [Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez] Obrador<\/a>,\u201d the report states. \u201cHe and other senior politicians in Mexico are looking to build on the legal medical cannabis program and expand it to fully legal federal regulatory structures\u2026 There is an economic case to be made how cannabis can help support the goals of the incoming administration for improving education and economic development in southern Mexico and reducing dependency on U.S. food imports while increasing exports.\u201d<\/p>\n Finally, the report turns to Panama, which is said to be \u201cat a crossroads.\u201d<\/p>\n Cannabis remains illegal in Panama,\u00a0for now<\/a>. The government has only recently started permitting exceptional cases of medical CBD use with a special \u201csanitary permit\u201d from the Ministry of Health.<\/p>\n Yet, \u201cthe path for cannabis reform has been laid,\u201d as the National Assembly is currently reviewing a bill to establish a wider medical program, including domestic cultivation.<\/p>\n While the report does touch on the need to establish standards for Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), it sidesteps some of the deeper implications of its own analysis. When the authors write that Colombia is known for its \u201clow production costs,\u201d they note that this is already \u201cseen in its major exports of coffee and cut flowers.\u201d This raises the question of whether the cannabis industry will exploit economic desperation as these other sectors have, and whether it will similarly be complicit in repression of labor organizing, or in the usurpation of traditional peasant lands.<\/p>\n The report states, meaning to sound optimistic: \u201cCannabis producers and processors in Latin America will have a natural cost-based advantage relative to producers in Europe and Latin America, based on regional differences in labor costs alone.\u201d It then cautions: \u201c[W]hile producers in Latin America have an advantage toward low-cost production, it is important to prepare for the coming international competition from producers in Africa and Asia, with countries from\u00a0Zimbabwe<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Lesotho<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0South Africa<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Thailand<\/a>\u00a0all preparing to build cannabis export businesses. Consequently, cost containment should remain a strategic priority for all producers in the region.\u201d<\/p>\n This smacks a little of what anti-globalization activists have called the \u201crace to the bottom<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Last year,\u00a0California<\/a>\u00a0passed a law that will\u00a0create an \u201cequity\u201d program<\/a>\u00a0for the state\u2019s legalized industry, aimed at justice and inclusion for those communities hardest hit by cannabis prohibition. The Latin American nations may also have to grapple with this idea if the emerging cannabis industry is to avoid the social injustices that have characterized the region\u2019s other agro-export sectors. Only the report\u2019s section on Mexico even remotely broaches this discussion.<\/p>\n And like many such papers by the new industry\u2019s market analysts, the report eschews the word \u201cmarijuana,\u201d presumably because it is associated with the stigma, and avoids using it almost entirely.<\/p>\n TELL US<\/b>, how do you think the rise of the cannabis industry in Latin America will impact the global marketplace?<\/p>\n The post Latin American Cannabis Market Worth $9.8 Billion, Report Says<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A new report from a cannabis industry analyst firm based in Washington, D.C., New Frontier Data, argues that Latin American cannabis is well-positioned to be a big player in the global cannabis industry \u2014 and that it is already on the way. \u201cSince Uruguay in 2014 became the first nationContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[50,917,170,6899,35,2154,265,3259,3582,7655,712],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32950"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/190"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32950"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32950\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32951,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32950\/revisions\/32951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Uruguay Leads the Way\u00a0<\/b><\/h4>\n
Colombia Eyes Export Market\u00a0<\/b><\/h4>\n
Brazil: Biggest Market Potential<\/h4>\n
Mexico\u2019s Pot Populism?<\/h4>\n
Panama Next in Line?<\/h4>\n
No Discussion of Equity<\/h4>\n
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\nRead More: Latin American Cannabis Market Worth .8 Billion, Report Says<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"