![Brazilian health agency authorizes the entry of Uruguayan cannabis products Photo: Wikimedia Commons](https://www.lr21.com.uy/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/aceite-de-cannabis.jpg)
The National Health Surveillance Agency of Brazil (ANVISA) reported this Thursday that cannabis-derived products produced in Uruguay for medicinal and private use are authorized to enter the country.
From now on, citizens and legal residents of Brazil can access these products with a medical prescription issued by legally qualified professionals, a process that will be mandatory.
The permit will be valid for 2 years from the time of issuance. The Agency’s measure was based on RDC Resolution No. 660, of March 30, 2022.
The Uruguayan company that obtained the first authorization was Pucmed, and sales to the South American giant are expected to exceed US$600,000 a year.
“We are the first 100% Uruguayan company authorized by Anvisa to bring cannabis flowers to Brazil,” the company wrote this Thursday on its Instagram account. Its director, Alfonso Cardozo Ferretjans, told local Brazilian media: “From this intermediation, it is estimated that the sector will earn more than 600,000 dollars a year, with an exponential increase expected.”
The Pucmed company is dedicated to the planting and cultivation of industrial hemp, a variant of cannabis with a lower content of tetrahydrocanbabinol, the active compound in marijuana with psychoactive effects used for recreational purposes. Hemp plants are more intended for the extraction of cannabidiol, the second most important compound, which is used for medicinal purposes without causing altered states of consciousness.
Currently, the company has about 50,000 square meters of fields and production buildings.