Members of the Citizen Action Party (PAC) and Frente Amplio (FA) are facing the bill that would authorize the medicinal use of marijuana.
The initiative -called the Law for research, regulation and control of cannabis and hemp plants for medicinal, food and industrial use- was convened this week by the Executive Power in the extraordinary sessions of the Legislative Assembly, despite criticism from some sectors.
Marvin Atencio, legislator from the PAC and promoter of the initiative, assured that congressman Francisco Camacho from FA raised 300 motions to the substitute text when already there was a political agreement to dictate it in the Commission of Legal Subjects of the Congress.
According to the pro-government legislator, Frente Amplio questions the cost of licenses for the production of drugs from the plant and wants to expand market share. He said that the high cost of some licenses with category “A” is because the production of drugs requires a high economic investment, exceeding one million dollars.
Atencio added that the FA also wants to introduce authorization for self-cultivation and recreational consumption in the proposal.
That is not the goal of the project. It is not the reason behind the project, it would be disconnected. They can present another project for that,”
said Atencio.
Camacho acknowledged that they filed 300 motions and clarified that last Tuesday he only went to the Legal Affairs Committee to replace Edgardo Araya. However, he denied that the purpose of the amendments is to introduce self-cultivation and recreational consumption of marijuana in the text.
The legislator argued that what they want is to review the issue of licenses for the production of medicines because only very large companies could participate.
The substitute project would grant the Ministry of Health all the powers of regulation, control, inspection and other administrative functions related to agro-industrial, commercial and research activities for medical, food and industrial use of cannabis and hemp.
The two fractions agreed to return the text to a sub-commission to reach an agreement, return it to the commission, dictate it and send it to the Legislative Plenary for discussion and voting.