|
 In 2015, Chile legalized the use of medical marijuana, following a
wave of other Latin American nations that are slowly making the
cultivation, distribution, and consumption of cannabis easier.
Earlier in May, pharmacies in the capital city of Santiago began
selling cannabis-based medicines, the first time such treatments
have been offered by drugstores in Latin America.
Boosters of the plant are making sure Chileans with chronic pain
have the know-how to grow marijuana, even as doing so occupies a
legal gray area.
In Santiago on Friday, Chile's pro-cannabis Daya Foundation hosted a
workshop teaching those with medical conditions how to grow the
plant on their own.
Last year, the foundation inaugurated the largest medical marijuana
farm in Latin America under the supervision of Chile's Agriculture
and Livestock Service.
"Almost a century of prohibition filled us with misinformation and,
worse, stopped millions of people who could have received relief
from using this plant," said Ana Maria Gazmuri, a 1980s soap opera
star and advocate of holistic medicine, who heads the foundation.
"So today this has changed in Chile and we can say, additionally,
that we are leaders in Latin America in the development of medical
cannabis."
Among those who attended the workshop on Friday was Carlos Antonio
Ortiz Diaz, a 49-year-old miner with glaucoma.
[to top of second column] |
"No medicines have given me results up to now. I have to change them
every month, and I don't see any improvement," he said.
"With cannabis, I'm using it two times a week on average, and the
pain has diminished a bit."
Chile's Congress is currently debating a bill that would explicitly
allow people to grow their own plants, and Argentina and Colombia
are following similar paths.
Uruguay became a global pioneer when it legalized the cultivation,
distribution, and consumption of marijuana in late 2013. Pharmacies
in that country will begin legal sales of recreational cannabis from
July.
(Reporting by Reuters TV; Writing by Gram Slattery; Editing by Phil
Berlowitz)
[© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2017 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
