A new government agency was launched on Wednesday to boost the country's medical marijuana and hemp industries.
Reuters reports that the agency, referred to as the Regulatory Agency for the Hemp and Medicinal Cannabis Industry, or ARICCAME, is the first working group of a new national agency dedicated to regularizing and promoting the country’s nascent cannabis industry, which is expected to create new jobs and exports for the South American country.
According to Argentina's economy minister Sergio Massa, the launch of the new agency opens the door for Argentina to start a new path in industrial exports.
Massa told Reuters that Argentina already counts on demand for projects related to the agro-industrial sector to begin regularizing programs on Thursday.
ARICCAME's mission and goals are outlined on its official website.
According to their website, “We are the Agency that regulates the import, export, cultivation, industrial production, manufacture, commercialization, and acquisition, by any name, of cannabis seeds, cannabis products, and derivatives for medicinal and industrial purposes,” as translated into English.
The website outlines the following “general objectives” for the agency: establishing a regulatory framework for Cannabis Sativa L. plants, seeds and derivatives used toward health and industrial hemp; promoting an agro-industrial productive sector to manufacture medicines, phytotherapeutics, food, cosmetics for human use and veterinary medicines and food; adapting cultivation and production of cannabis derivatives used in existing health treatments; reintroducing hemp in Argentina with its derivatives of food, construction materials, fiber, cellulose and low-impact bioplastics; as well as advocating scientific research and sectoral technological progress.
ARICCAME has set out to define the legal framework for the sector, collaborate with related national organizations such as INASE, SENASA, INTA, INTI, AFIP, INAES, BCRA, UIF and National Universities, oversee licensing and authorization systems in the cannabis/hemp products production chain for consumer safety, establish quality standards for those same goods and finally monitor adherence to the established regulations.
In 2017, Argentine policymakers legalized cannabis oil for medical use. Three years later, patients were permitted to cultivate marijuana at home.
This new agency is part of an effort by the Argentine government to reform its medical cannabis program, which the country identified as a priority last year.
The newly launched agency will be headed by Francisco Echarren, who "said the industry could create thousands of new jobs and new products for export."
"We have a huge challenge ahead of us," Echarren told Reuters, "not only getting a new industry up and running, but giving millions of Argentines better quality of life products."
Reuters reports that the agency, referred to as the Regulatory Agency for the Hemp and Medicinal Cannabis Industry, or ARICCAME, is the first working group of a new national agency dedicated to regularizing and promoting the country’s nascent cannabis industry, which is expected to create new jobs and exports for the South American country.
According to Argentina's economy minister Sergio Massa, the launch of the new agency opens the door for Argentina to start a new path in industrial exports.
Massa told Reuters that Argentina already counts on demand for projects related to the agro-industrial sector to begin regularizing programs on Thursday.
ARICCAME's mission and goals are outlined on its official website.
According to their website, “We are the Agency that regulates the import, export, cultivation, industrial production, manufacture, commercialization, and acquisition, by any name, of cannabis seeds, cannabis products, and derivatives for medicinal and industrial purposes,” as translated into English.
The website outlines the following “general objectives” for the agency: establishing a regulatory framework for Cannabis Sativa L. plants, seeds and derivatives used toward health and industrial hemp; promoting an agro-industrial productive sector to manufacture medicines, phytotherapeutics, food, cosmetics for human use and veterinary medicines and food; adapting cultivation and production of cannabis derivatives used in existing health treatments; reintroducing hemp in Argentina with its derivatives of food, construction materials, fiber, cellulose and low-impact bioplastics; as well as advocating scientific research and sectoral technological progress.
ARICCAME has set out to define the legal framework for the sector, collaborate with related national organizations such as INASE, SENASA, INTA, INTI, AFIP, INAES, BCRA, UIF and National Universities, oversee licensing and authorization systems in the cannabis/hemp products production chain for consumer safety, establish quality standards for those same goods and finally monitor adherence to the established regulations.
In 2017, Argentine policymakers legalized cannabis oil for medical use. Three years later, patients were permitted to cultivate marijuana at home.
This new agency is part of an effort by the Argentine government to reform its medical cannabis program, which the country identified as a priority last year.
The newly launched agency will be headed by Francisco Echarren, who "said the industry could create thousands of new jobs and new products for export."
"We have a huge challenge ahead of us," Echarren told Reuters, "not only getting a new industry up and running, but giving millions of Argentines better quality of life products."
