ORGANIC GROWTH
It is quite common for modern medicine to play catch-up with remedies familiar to the ancients. Where medical cannabis is concerned, however, it is the legal systems that are playing catch-up, Ecuador included.
BACK IN JUNE 2013, Ecuador decriminalized the personal possession of up to 10g of cannabis, while selling remained a crime. This arguably marked the turning point for the product’s wider healthcare application. Indeed, when one considers the pain relief, or, indeed, the wider treatment that cannabis is medically recognized as providing, it seems a no-brainer to develop a structured industry. The long list of medical conditions it has proven efficacy in treating includes multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury and disease, and cancer, for which cannabis can diminish or even eliminate the nausea resulting from conventional treatments including chemotherapy. In the case of HIV/AIDS, it is an effective analgesic, and it can be used to address related symptoms such as anorexia, weight loss, and nausea.
LETTER OF THE LAW
Yet the dilemma faced by the would-be marketplace of cannabidiol (CBD) sellers is the stigma attached to the product, especially across Latin America. Being a legal hot potato, commercial production of medicinal products, despite demand, had long been hindered. Until late 2019 that is, when a parliamentary vote approved reform of the Organic Integral Criminal Code (COIP) to permit the production, commercialization, distribution, use, and consumption of medicinal cannabis. The reform thus removes hemp and its derivative — defined as containing less than 1% of THC— from Ecuador’s controlled substances list. Accordingly, Ecuador joined around a dozen countries permitting the application of cannabis for therapeutic and medicinal effect. Additionally, then, in the reformed COIP, hemp is no longer a prohibited crop, though there remain a number of question marks over the precise scope of cultivation. The vote encapsulated the medical cannabis standardization, processing, and marketing, but cannabis will require further legal clarification to ensure it ultimately enjoys a seamless fit in the wider healthcare arena. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health is tasked with its production and supervision. Now, commentators foresee full legalization in 2020. Revealing just how unifying the issue is, while a majority of 83 voted in favor, 20 parliamentarians voted against the change and 23 abstained in the recent vote in Ecuador.
GROWTH OF THE SOIL…
Growers in Ecuador already produce roughly 30 types of oils under the radar, and now the regulation of content is set to standardize the industry. The country has other natural advantages up its sleeve, too, not least of which are its 12 hours of daylight. To that may be added volcanic soil and multiple annual crops. Specifically, too, Ecuador boasts native species of high active ingredient content. It remains to be seen how large the psychoactive component of cannabis in percentage terms will be allowed to be.
BUT WIDER COMMERCIAL GROWTH A POSSIBILITY?
Apart from the social impact in rural communities of legalizing cannabis production, regulated domestic sales would also provide a constant revenue stream. And then there are the huge export markets to consider. Observers note that since the latest law change exclusively treats the cultivation and production of cannabis-based medicines of proven “quality and safety” for research purposes, it seems unlikely that the government would commit to legalizing Ecuador’s cannabis crop per se. Ecuador still has some way to go in enabling growers to tap lucrative export markets, biggest among which is the European medical cannabis market. It may prove wise for the government to lighten the load born by the rural poor, who could benefit more from a legalized cash-crop without the associated legal risk of illegal practice.