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 The company Varela works for, Fotmer Life Sciences, has just made
the first commercial shipment of medical cannabis from Latin
America, 10 kg (22 lb) of dried flowers with high levels of active
ingredient THC destined for patients in Australia.
The small but landmark export underscores the country's push into
the burgeoning market for legal cannabis, that has medical uses
including helping cancer patients manage chronic pain or treating
spasms associated with multiple sclerosis.
"Our goal is to create a billion-dollar industry here in Uruguay in
the next five to seven years," Jordan Lewis, chief executive of
Fotmer Life Sciences, told Reuters at the Montevideo lab. The firm
soon hopes to announce shipments to the European Union, where
Germany is the key market, he added.
Uruguay has been ahead of the curve. It was the first country to
legalize the growing, sale and smoking of marijuana in December 2013
in a pioneering social experiment closely watched by other nations
debating drug liberalization.
The number of countries legalizing the use of medical cannabis is
expected to almost double to around 80 in the future, Lewis said,
"creating a potential (global) market of $100 billion in the next
ten years."
In the coming weeks the firm will begin exporting 100 kg each month
of dried flowers and cannabis extracts, Lewis said.
The potential is clear. While market forecasts range widely,
advisory and investment bank Cowen Inc predicts the U.S. cannabis
market alone could be worth $80 billion by 2030.
POT PROFICIENCY
In the company's facilities, in a science park complex 21 km (13
miles) from Montevideo's center, Varela's team of scientists are
taking things seriously. To get into the white-walled labs, visitors
must wear plastic cloth shoes, a tunic, cap, mask and latex gloves.
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Varela says it is vital to control the quality of the environment
for the cannabis plants, especially given the high global standards
needed for making medicines as well as in the handling of
agricultural products.
Each plant has a number and bar code, part of system to track the
production process and catch possible genetic issues. There were 350
marijuana plants growing and 27 different genetic varieties when
Reuters visited.
The plants once ready are transferred to 18 industrial-size
greenhouses in Nueva Helvecia, 120 km away, equipped with drying,
curing and packaging machinery.
Varela, a biochemist, got interested in studying the uses of
cannabis while doing a doctorate in the Netherlands. When he
returned to Uruguay, he joined one of the early projects being done
by Uruguayan Fernando Sassón along with American Lewis.
Uruguay's support for the industry has put it at the forefront of
the growing global market, he said.
"As we see legalization happening at a global and regional level,
Uruguay is pushing ahead to develop highly-qualified people with the
right skills really quickly."
(Reporting by Fabián Werner in Montevideo; Editing by Adam Jourdan
and Tom Brown)
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