Paraguay: Presentation of the draft law on cannabis for medical and adult use

At the end of last week, a bill to decriminalize the use and cultivation of cannabis was presented to the National Congress.

The bill is the result of the first International Conference on Cannabis, held on July 26 in Asuncion at the National Congress. The conference was convened by the Presidency of Parliament and brought together parliamentarians and experts on industrial hemp and cannabis.

The bill, presented by Frente Guasú, the Left Front, and representatives of civil society involved in the cannabis issue, is entitled «By which the self-cultivation, production, industrialization, commercialization, use and research of the Cannabis plant and its derivatives are exhaustively regulated and declared to be of national interest».

A Granja Madre leader, Juan Cabezudo, explained that «Senator Óscar Salomón, President of Congress, has convened an international conference to discuss the medical and commercial opportunities generated by the use of cannabis in all its forms.»

He added that 'relevant national institutions as well as civil society organizations such as Mamá Cultiva, the Paraguayan Cannabis Cooperative, the Paraguayan Chamber of Industrial Cannabis and Granja Madre.

The Paraguay has already legalized the production of medical cannabis and supplies several countries. Access to medical cannabis remains complicated for patients, however, and self-cultivation is still prohibited.

Decriminalization of cannabis

The central point of the bill presented to Congress, reported by ABC, is to decriminalize the use and cultivation of cannabis.

Key points of the bill include the following:

1. Decriminalize the Cannabis plant, its derivatives, its uses and its consumers, as part of an approach based on the human rights guaranteed by the national Constitution, setting administrative penalties except for related offences.
2. Declare the area of national interest, focusing on the health of patients and the economic rights of family farming, as well as the industrial and fiscal potential it can represent for the country.
3. It creates the National Cannabis Institute (Incanna) as a public state body with the participation of civil society and broad powers. to achieve the objectives of the law.
4. It authorizes self-cultivation by individuals and the creation of cultivation associations for adult and medical use of the plant and its derivatives, as well as their limited possession.
5. The bill under consideration establishes guidelines for the prevention of cannabis use by minors, as well as express restrictions on production and consumption in public spaces.

The Uruguayan model was used as a basis for the project, «but with the social and economic reality of the country in mind», explains Juan Cabezudo, head of the Ganja Madre association.