Ecuador is latest to legalize medical pot
QUITO, Ecuador — Unrelenting pain in her hips and weeks of insomnia left Nelly Valbuena desperate for relief from her metastatic breast cancer.
The university professor found freedom from her disease’s cruel side effects in an unexpected remedy: CBD, a compound extracted from the cannabis plant.
Now Valbuena is pushing Ecuador’s government to put into effect recently passed legislation permitting medicinal use of cannabis products so others like her suffering from agonizing illnesses can have new options for pain relief.
“I desperately needed something to help,” she said. “Only someone living in pain and unable to sleep could know what that means.”
Ecuador’s legislature approved medical use of cannabis containing less than 1% of THC, the highproducing ingredient in marijuana, in September. President Lenin Moreno was given a month to veto but did not.
When the law is officially put on the books, Ecuador will be the latest in a tide of Latin American countries approving some form of medicinal cannabis use. Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay have all signed off on permitting therapeutic usage, giving rise to a new industry.
“In Latin America, with a population of 625 million people, there is great potential,” said Alvaro Torres, a Colombian businessman who cofounded Khiron Life Sciences Corp., which produces and distributes medical cannabis.
Valbuena’s fight against cancer began in 2012 and within four years it had spread to other organs, making her daily life a battle with pain.
Valbuena read about cannabis and put a plea on Facebook for help. Within a day, a doctor responded, offering her an oral CBD spray.
“I fell asleep for 16 hours,” she remembered. “It was a huge relief.”
Though CBD has boomed in popularity, there is very little evidence to back up the health claims the industry touts. Proponents say it treats pain, reduces anxiety and helps with insomnia. But relatively little research has been done on humans to confirm those assertions.