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Medicinal use of cannabis is proposed in bill
Posted On 14 Jun 2016
The president of the Assembly Gabriela Rivadeneira (AP) presented the draft Organic Law for the Use of Cannabis for medical and therapeutic purposes that would be included as an input in the draft Organic Code of Health that has not yet a report ready for the first debate.
The bill regulates the measures for cultivation, harvesting, processing, storage and marketing of the cannabis (marijuana is extracted from it) for medicinal and therapeutic use of cannabis in Ecuador.
Yesterday in the Assembly, a forum on the project with experts and people with relatives who have benefited from the use of the plant was held.
There, Rivadeneira said that this is a legislative issue that advances in the parliaments of the region and cannabis is used to treat terminal illnesses and pre-existing conditions.
According to Rivadeneira, Chile, Uruguay, Colombia and several US states already give a therapeutic use to the plant, as its properties are beneficial for the treatment of resistant clinical pain in chemotherapy, cancer, glaucoma or epilepsy cases, proving good results.
Santiago Escalante, the Ministry of Public Health, said there are many ways to supply cannabis: oil, aerosols, tablets and others.
Escalante claimed that its use does not generate dependence because the amounts or concentrations are minimal in therapeutic treatments.
The Drug Prevention Act passed in October last year opened the door for this bill to be treated.
