Anvisa, the Brazilian pharmaceutical regulators, have approved the usage of medicinal cannabis-based products, reported Reuters.

The approval comes as a major shift for Brazil, as, in the past, it has suffered years of drug related violence. Anvisa have announced that they plan to start regulating medicinal marijuana products, although in a separate vote they voted to block a proposal which would allow domestic medicinal marijuana plantations.
According to the report, a spokesperson for Anvisa stated that Brazilian firms looking to manufacture cannabis-based products would need to import the cannabis inputs from overseas. The move comes as part of a changing global narrative on marijuana; nearby countries have also recently developed their own domestic medicinal marijuana sectors.
The new legislation will be published in Brazil’s official gazette and will come into law 90 days after that. There will also be legislation for the manufacture, import, sale, packaging, marketing and regulation of these new products. Anvisa have stated that cannabis-based products will only be available to be purchased from registered pharmacies, and consumers will need a prescription.
The announcement comes after Uruguay legalised the growth, sale and smoking of marijuana in 2013 and Colombia followed suit, legalising medical marijuana in 2015. Mexico’s Supreme Court recently ordered the country’s health ministry to speed up the process of implementing medicinal marijuana regulations, with recreational cannabis also being discussed.