The National Service for Agri-Food Health and Quality (Senasa) set up the Strategic Table for Cannabis and Industrial Hemp, to coordinate the tasks of the different agencies involved “attentive to the potentialities that revolve around its development as a new value chain”.
The measure was ordered through resolution 454/2022, published in the Official Gazette, in which it was also designated head of the new body to Diego Peña, who will be in charge of “the articulation with all the areas of Senasa and the supervision of the tasks of the work team of said Table.”
It will also address “the coordination of actions with other bodies, councils, universities competent in the matter and with all those institutions that may be relevant in the development of the sector, especially with the National Seed Institute (Inase), for the preparation of frameworks and common collaboration programs that allow the development of supervision and control in this industry”.
The Table “will not imply the creation of new structural openings or any additional budget expenditure” and will be made up of one representative from each of the following national directorates: Plant Protection, Animal Health, Agrifood Safety and Quality, Operations, and one from the General Directorate of Laboratories and Technical Control.
In the recitals of the norm that indicates that “one of the lines of work identified for the current year and assigned to the Presidency Unit is the treatment of the universe of cannabis for medicinal use and industrial hempattentive to the potentialities that revolve around its development as a new value chain”.
On May 26, Law 27,669 was enacted, which establishes the regulatory framework for the medical cannabis and industrial hemp industry, through Decree 266/2022.
The law, whose enactment had been announced on Tuesday, May 24 by President Alberto Fernández, creates the Regulatory Agency for the Hemp and Medicinal Cannabis Industry (Ariccame), which is “the competent body to regulate, control and issue authorizations administrative regulations regarding the use of seeds of the cannabis plant, cannabis and its derived products”.
The regulatory framework covers “the national production and marketing chain or for export purposes of the cannabis plant, its seeds and its derived products for medicinal use, including scientific research, and industrial use; thus promoting the national development of the sectoral productive chain”, indicates the law in its first article.
In a ceremony held at Casa Rosada, President Alberto Fernández stated that the law “is a step in access to the right to health” and, at the same time, “a triumph of society against hypocrisy.”
“Cannabis was a forbidden word for a large part of society, but the voices of some mothers caught the attention of many: they could solve people’s problems,” assured the president, who added that with this new law ” help resolve the health of many people who need it and who have proven that these drugs serve them and make their lives more bearable”.
For his part, the Minister of Science and Technology, Daniel Filmus, said that “US$ 50 million in exports are projected in a few years and more than US$ 500 million in national production” as a result of the medical cannabis and industrial hemp law .
