This month Argentina has authorized people in the country to grow marijuana at their home for medicinal use.

This is a big win for marijuana advocates who had fought for years to have medicinal marijuana available for suffering patients.

A decree that has been issued by the country’s President Alberto Fernández also allows pharmacies to sell cannabis-derived oils, creams and other products, and it orders public and private insurance systems to cover these medications for patients who obtain a prescription.

It was in 2017 that the country had legalized marijuana for medicinal use. According to medicinal cannabis advocates, Mr. Fernández’s predecessor, Mauricio Macri, established restrictions so strict that it effectively made the drug inaccessible to patients.

“We’ve been fighting for this for three years,” said Valeria Salech, who is the head of Mamá Cultiva, an Argentine organization that promotes medical marijuana. “We’re no longer going to be criminalized for seeking a better quality of life for ourselves and our loved ones.”

Ms. Salech has used cannabis oil on her son Emiliano who is both autistic and epileptic. Her son has been using the oil for six years and is now 14-years old.
“Cannabis helped him improve his connection to those around him. He was able to stop using diapers, to pay attention, he learned how to play,” Ms. Salech said. “It changed our lives.”

“There was a law but there was no access to products,” said Argentina’s health minister, Ginés González García about the country’s strict law. “We are replacing a black market that already exists with quality control that is key in all medical products, particularly those that are given to children.”

“We cultivate knowing that at any moment we could lose our freedom, but we do it because you can’t put a price on quality of life,” Ms. Salech said.

Previously growing marijuana carried with it prison terms of between four and 15 years. Those who grow it going forward without a license will still face that penalty.
Approval will be “on a case-by-case basis,” Mr. Gonzaléz García said. “Even if it does not provide a cure, improving quality of life is no small thing,” he said.

“If we only think of health as the absence of illness, we’re missing the point,” Ms. Salech said. “This plant came to teach us that.”

Home growers in Argentina will need a license based on medical needs.


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