Latin American businesses and governments are seeing the marketing and export potentials of an incipient liberalization of marijuana laws in the region. But to really cash in, it must be an investment in more than simple commodity crops.

After his stint at Stanford University business school in California, Uruguayan entrepreneur Andrés Israel began to research the nascent global cannabis industry, to find the countries with the most favorable regulations for its large-scale production and use. They were Canada and Uruguay, with the latter legalizing its recreational use in 2013.

In this article the Colombian Association of Cannabis Industries explores the medical cannabis market in Latin America.

As EU demand for cannabis products grows, investors are turning to Latin America for imports. The Colombian Association of Cannabis Industries, which is recognised as the most relevant private entity representing the private cannabis industry in Colombia, tell us more.

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Latin America’s cannabis market is poised to become a central piece in the development of a legal global cannabis industry. With land and weather perfectly fit for cannabis cultivation, relatively low labor costs, and a strategic location for exports into North America, the region is on its way to becoming an important cannabis hub.

Some markets like Colombia are welcoming investments from some of the top cannabis companies like Canopy Growth, Aurora Cannabis, Cronos Group and Aphria. 

Government officials effectively launched Peru’s medical marijuana program last week with the publication of regulations for the production and distribution of medicinal cannabis. Although some rules to implement the South American nation’s 2017 law legalizing medical marijuana had been issued by decree earlier this year, they did not include guidelines for companies to apply for required licenses.

Under the new rules, licenses will be available for research, production, import, wholesale commercialization, seed production, and retail sales of cannabis. To obtain a license, applicants must submit detailed information including agricultural production plans and security protocols.

atients and producers of medical cannabis in Peru can enjoy a fiesta as the country joins several of its Latin American neighbours in the rapidly expanding market.

While Peru first legalized cannabis oil for medical use two years ago, it’s been a long wait for the government to pass legislation to sanction further economic activity.

On Wednesday, it was announced that the Ministry of Health (Minsa) approved the technical legal document entitled Guidelines for the medicinal use of cannabis and its derivatives.

When PharmaCielo, now a publicly traded company, formed in 2014 to cultivate medical cannabis in Colombia, some growers needed convincing. Some came from families that farmed chrysanthemums for generations. Cannabis was largely illegal and stigmatized. Scars from the nation's decadeslong drug war were fresh. A peace deal between the government and leftist FARC rebels was two years away. North America's marijuana stocks boom had not begun.

Cannabis in Latin America, without the stigma, could be as clean as any region considered violent-free. In a classic context, the UK and North America hold the biggest market share in the cannabis industry, because it’s a legal business in those regions. How would Latin America fare if allowed to participate in the cannabis market? Investors have indeed found a new fortune in growing the once illicit plant.

Latin America’s medical cannabis market may be a perfect fit for agriculture technology like precision irrigation.

Lucia, a Colombian girl, suffered severe epileptic seizures since adolescence. Although she visited many doctors and specialists, at 35 years of age she had not found anything that would help her treat the debilitating symptoms of her illness.

One day she was able to travel to Canada where a specialist recommended a brand of medicinal cannabis oil that, as soon as she tried, significantly mitigated her ailments. Her spasms were less violent and her triggers less frequent.

Upon returning to her home country, however, Lucia could not locate the medicine that had benefited her so much. Although she tried many cannabidiol presentations available on her local market, none gave her the same result she had experienced in Canada.