Latin America region is the emerging region for cannabis and this can be attributed to the presence of countries legalizing the use of cannabis. This includes Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and Uruguay. These are some of the major countries where the medicinal use of marijuana has been approved which have opened new doors of investment for US and Canadian multinational.
Recently the CEO of Canopy LATAM, Antonio Droghetti, has stated that the medicinal market of marijuana is likely to grow more in the upcoming years owing to the introduction of new rules and regulation that will improve the patient access.
Impact of Legalization of Marijuana
It has been forecasted that the legalization of marijuana as medicine is likely to have a positive impact on the economy. For instance, as per the new study by Universidad del Rosario, medicinal marijuana could contribute 0.4% to Columbia GDP.
Apart from this, Uruguay has already made investments from more than 20 companies for medical marijuana, which has generated revenue of nearly USD 40 million as per the El Nuevo Herald. At the same time, Chile has also gain benefit from legalizing the medical marijuana owing to the presence around 3 international firms in this country which has already invested more than USD 14 million. As per the report by Value Market Research, the global medical marijuana market is presumed to touch USD 1,46,000 Million by 2025.
The countries issue more licenses in the region
According to the newspaper El País, the Latin America region has made a tremendous record in terms of legalization and regulation of marijuana as medicinal use as each time more licenses are issued for trade. For instance, recently in 2017, David Barbos, an agronomist at the Ministry of Justice of Colombia, has stated that nearly around more than 1,500 applications have been received, out of which nearly 300 had already been approved. Univisión has also reported regarding the ease of obtaining licenses in Puerto Rico this, which can be done by online, around 72,000 licenses have been obtained by the internet so far.
On the other hand, the legalization of marijuana was limited in Peru because it was legalized in February 2019. Also, as per the statement by the director of the Peruvian Institute of Medicinal Cannabis, Juan José García, “for obtaining the license of marijuana for medical use is not immediate one has to follow series of steps, which can take about a year”.
Naira Shekhawat has been into Content Writing just after completing her Graduation in English Literature. Her love for words has won her many accolades in her respective jobs ever since. Naira covers business sections for VMR News. She is a traveller by heart and loves writing on food blogs as a freelancer.