A Chilean cannabis firm said the country’s burgeoning marijuana industry is full of opportunity and optimism after tying up a deal with a Canadian technology developer.

Grassroots SpA treats more than 3,000 patients across Chile and it will now ramp up its operations after becoming the exclusive distributor of technologies from Global Cannabis Applications Corp. (CSE: APP). Grassroots aims to bring doctors and patients together via cutting-edge technology.

It will pay a monthly licensing fee and a separate fee for each user it signs up to GCAP’s Prescriptii Patient Care Solution. Vancouver-based GCAP uses mobile applications, artificial intelligence, regtech, smart databases, blockchain, and digital reward tokens to bring retailers and patients together in North America. It has now created a Spanish language version of its Citizen Green Community platform that Grassroots will use to link dispensaries and doctors with patients in Chile and beyond.

Chile legalized medicinal marijuana back in 2015 and it now has the highest cannabis consumption rates per capita in Latin America.

“The cannabis market in Chile is where the Canadian market was five years ago: full of optimism and opportunity,” said Alvaro Sequeida, president and chief executive at Grassroots. We believe the Citizen Green Community platform, with its advanced technology, management dashboard and community-based approach, offers significant benefits to all involved in the Chilean medical cannabis market.”

Chile legalized medicinal marijuana back in 2015 and it now has the highest cannabis consumption rates per capita in Latin America. It has a population of 18 million people and it is relatively stable politically and economically, so many firms see it as a good base for their South American operations. Khiron and AusCann are among the cannabis producers setting up shop in Chile. Along with Mexico, the country is tipped to be the key driver of medicinal marijuana growth in Latin America.

The deal marks GCAP’s first expansion into Spanish-speaking markets and chief executive Brad Moore said he sees plenty of opportunities in the region. It will provide Grassroots with a medical doctor dashboard to educate practitioners about the benefits of cannabis for specific patients’ conditions, develop a solution for telephone prescriptions and host an ecommerce site that allows patients to purchase cannabis across Latin America.

Grassroots will pay half the costs associated with developing Spanish modules on the GCAP platform and it will “aggressively connect” patients, dispensaries, and cannabis producers to the network.