2% of all received marijuana will go to the Ministry of Health, after that patients in need will get it for free. In particular, the drug will facilitate the condition of patients with epilepsy and Parkinson’s. In 2017, a law launched a national program in Paraguay. The program is about the use of cannabis herb and its derivatives for medical purposes. At the same time, the State began to procure cannabis oil for medical purposes.

The use of cannabis as a drug is legal in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and Puerto Rico. In Bolivia, Costa Rica and Ecuador, personal use is ok, but with restrictions.

Uruguay is the first country in the world to legalize the sale, use, and cultivation of cannabis herb.

Paraguay’s congress has passed a bill making it possible to import marijuana seeds and grow the plant for medical uses. A decision that follows the trends set by other countries in Latin America.

The landlocked South American nation had authorized the importing of cannabis oil in May under the control of the health ministry. Patients celebrated Tuesday’s decision for making it more readily available.

“We are very happy because this will also allow for the import of seeds for oil production,” said Roberto Cabanas, vice president Paraguay’s medicinal cannabis organization. His daughter has Dravet syndrome and the family was paying $300 a month for imported cannabis oil.

Peru, Chile, Argentina, and Colombia had already legalized marijuana for medical purposes. Uruguay has fully legalized growing and selling marijuana for any use.

The health ministry will sign the bill by the executive soon. Growing marijuana for recreational purposes in Paraguay is illegal, yet the country is a key source of illegal marijuana trafficked into Brazil and Argentina.

Paraguay is a global marijuana powerhouse: The small South American country produces 9 percent of the world’s supply. But until recently, it wasn’t common to see drug raids or hear helicopters thumping overhead in search of plantations. That’s all changing.

Last June, Brazilian gang members killed Paraguay’s most prominent crime lord. He left behind a burgeoning marijuana and cocaine empire that is quickly becoming one of South America’s biggest drug-trafficking headaches, and the fight to control that trade is proving far more vicious than Paraguayan officials anticipated.

With thousands of square miles of farmland, Paraguay has a stable, agriculture-based economy – and the world’s fourth-largest crop of marijuana.

The investment company World High Life (NEX: LIFE)has recently made moves to acquire Britain’s top hemp producer, Love Hemp, in a transaction involving all shares valued at 9 million GBP.

WHL plans to help Love Hemp expand into other European markets, starting with Germany in 2020. Love Hemp produces a variety of CBD products such as sprays, vapes, oils, edibles, CBD-infused beverages, and cosmetics, and sells its products in 1,200 UK high street stores. The European medical cannabis market is predicted to be one of the most valuable in the world and will key a key export destination for Latin American countries.

Even so, Paraguay has traditionally lacked the rampant violence and corruption that has allowed expansive drug-trafficking organizations to take hold in other parts of South America. But its porous borders and central position on the continent, among other factors, have begun to attract increasing attention from major drug gangs.

Less than one percent of Paraguay’s population consumes marijuana, according to the country’s National Anti-Drug Secretariat, or SENAD. Viewing it instead as a high-risk, high-reward cash crop with a better yield than soybeans, one of the country’s main legal exports. That means nearly all of the marijuana grown in Paraguay enters the international black market, SENAD said.

Officials there said about 20 percent of Paraguay’s marijuana export to south Uruguay, Argentina, and Chile. Each country’s main supply of the drug – or west to Bolivia. The other 80 percent crosses the border to Brazil. Various gangs purchase it and distribute it throughout the country.