Hemp can help to alleviate poverty in Latin American countries, but only if effective competitive strategies are in place, said Sergio Vazquez Barrios, who heads Uruguay’s industrial hemp program in the Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries (MGAP).

“I believe that the poverty levels of a country or an agro-exporting region are not overcome only with the large-scale production of a crop for which the demand is temporarily higher than the supply,” Vazquez Barrios told HempToday. “A strategic objective must first be considered and a competitive strategy must be identified.”

Vazquez Barrios said such a strategy must be combined with public education and development policies in order to advance economic growth.

Leading Uruguay’s hemp program

Head of the Technical Advisory Department for non-psychoactive cannabis production projects, and Management Advisor at the General Directorate of Agricultural Services (DGSA) in the MGAP, Vazguez Barrios will be a featured speaker at the Latin American & Caribbean Hemp Summit Nov. 8-9 in Montevideo.

Summit organizers also announced that leading global hemp advisor HempConsult GmbH has signed on as the exclusive Platinum sponsor of the inaugural Summit.

Vazquez Barrios is grain expert

An expert in cereals and oilseeds, Vazquez Barrios holds a degree in Agricultural Engineering from the University of the Republic of Uruguay, an MBA from University ORT, Uruguay, and a degree in design and evaluation of public policies from the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA).

Despite Uruguay’s liberal policies toward cannabis that set it apart from other nations, Vazquez Barrios said the hemp sector still faces hurdles. “With hemp still regulated from the seed to its final product, complying with the provisions of the law without affecting the dynamics of the entire value chain continues to be a challenge,” he said.

‘Many opportunities’ in hemp

While Uruguay has worked to position itself as a medicinal cannabis hub, it is also one of few nations in the world that allow a full 1 percent THC in industrial hemp. “I consider that hemp has many opportunities in the area of food, and raw material for the fiber industry,” Vazquez Barrios said, noting the industry’s potential to develop in a manner similar to Uruguay’s forestry sector, which has attracted leading pulp producers who have set up large-scale industrial factories in the country.

“Uruguay produces food for 30 million people, and has a lot of experience in the production and conditioning of open-pit oilseeds from other plant species,” Vazquez Barrios noted. “With this experience and through three years of hemp flower and biomass production in Uruguay, we’ve shortened the learning curve that the agricultural sector must cross with a new crop. Uruguay can teach the world how to produce biomass, seeds and flowers competitively, since it has been doing so with other crops for years.”

Kruse will address market status

HempConsult GmbH, the Summit’s main sponsor, offers guidance on everything from hemp farming and organic certification to CBD production and sales as well as its legal status. The consultancy also produces regularly updated market reports on a range of indicators, having been one of the first major industry players to begin to quantify the overall hemp sector when it started collecting worldwide market data in 2012. HempConsult has an extensive base of knowledge, network partners and experience all over the world.

Daniel Kruse, CEO at HempConsult GmbH, will address the Summit in Montevideo. Part of his summary will be focused on the current oversupply in the hemp industry and the need for the market to balance supply and demand at a time when the market market is fettered by unnecessary strict and outdated regulations, which – at least in Europe – lead to an uneven playing field for the hemp industry.

Kruse has been in the hemp industry since 1995. Through HempConsult GmbH, he is a senior advisor to entrepreneurs, startups, investors and other industry stakeholders. He recently guided the development of a solar powered hemp food processing factory at Borken, Germany.

Inventor Carl Martell to speak

Canadian scientist and inventor Carl Martell, Advanced Hemp Technologies, also will join previously announced speakers for the event.

Martell has been researching industrial cannabis since 2010. Formally trained as a geo-archaeologist with degrees in Interdisciplinary Science, he has worked with a number of hemp companies across Canada, the United States and Australia. Co-inventor of a grain disinfection system deployed in Canada and Australia, he continues to explore and develop grain quality post-harvest management technology. Martell’s focus recently has been on value added products from agricultural waste such as carbon foam for insulation, water filtration/desalination and energy storage systems.

Organizers & other sponsors

HempToday international and HempToday en Espanol are organizers of the Latin American & Caribbean Hemp Summit along with Hempoint of the Czech Republic and Hemp Engineering, Perth, Australia.

Previously committed sponsors for the Summit are European CBD maker MH medical hemp, and Hempro International GmbH & Co. KG.Hemp producers also have a chance to display their products during the Summit in HempBoutique, a popup showroom that is part of the event, sponsored by the hemp wholesale trading platform HempTradePro.com.

Thailand has removed cannabis and hemp extracts from its narcotics list, officials said on Monday, the latest effort to promote the development of marijuana products for medical purposes.

Thailand, which has a tradition of using cannabis to relieve pain and fatigue, legalized marijuana for medical use and research last year to help boost agricultural income.

“The intention is to allow extracts to be used in medicine, cosmetics and food and support hemp as a cash crop,” Tares Krassanairawiwong, Secretary-General of the Thai Food and Drug Administration, told reporters, adding that hemp seed and oil would also be exempt.

So far, only hospitals and research facilities are allowed to apply for licenses to develop medical extracts from cannabis, but businesses see an opportunity.

Ishaan Shah, from the billionaire Shah family, founded the Ganja Group in Bangkok and plans to supply medical cannabis to the family’s GP Group’s pharmaceutical arm, Megalife Sciences Pcl.

“We are working toward cannabidiol (CBD) extraction, that’s our short term goal,” Shah told Reuters.

Extracts from cannabis and hemp plants such as pure CBD, CBD-based products and products with THC content of less than 0.2%, the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis, were removed from the narcotics Category 5 schedule, the regulator said.

Licenses are not yet available for businesses.

Category 5 drugs are punishable by up to 15 years in prison and fines of up to 1.5 million baht ($49,019.61).

Early-stage venture capital fund manager, Expara, is aiming to raise $30 million by December this year to invest in cannabis-related technology, said Managing Director Douglas Abrams.

“We think the change in the regulatory environment is a leading indicator of fast growth in this new industry,” he told Reuters.

Cannabis production, cultivation and sale is limited to licensed Thai producers for five years to protect the domestic industry, Tares said, adding that it was reviewing regulations that would allow businesses to apply for permits.

Some 334 permits have been issued so far, mainly to hospitals and health agencies, according to the FDA website.

Thailand delivered its first patch of 10,000 bottles of cannabis oil extract to patients last month.

All is not well in vapeland. Over the weekend, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) released a health alert with the headline: "Severe Pulmonary Disease Associated with Using E-Cigarette Products."  

The warning came on the heels of reports that at least 215 people in 25 states have reported lung-related illnesses associated with e-cigarettes or vapes. The first known death was in Illinois, where a patient who reported using E-cigarettes was hospitalized with severe respiratory illness and later died. That state alone has seen the number of cases of people reporting respiratory problems from e-cigarettes or vapes double in the past week. 

On Sunday, The New York Times released a bombshell story that quoted Dr. Melodi Pirzada, chief pediatric pulmonologist at NYU Winthrop Hospital in Mineola, N.Y., as calling the situation "an epidemic." The article went on to say: "Patients, mostly otherwise healthy and in their late teens and 20s, are showing up with severe shortness of breath, often after suffering for several days with vomiting, fever and fatigue. Some have wound up in the intensive care unit or on a ventilator for weeks." 

Not Just a Nicotine Problem

While research remains to be done, some reputable organizations consider vaping to be a safe alternative to tobacco. The Government agency Public Health England has said that vaping is safer than smoking and could lead to the demise of the traditional cigarette. 

However, the CDC warns that E-cigarettes can contain harmful substances, such as nicotine, heavy metals (like lead), volatile organic compounds, and cancer-causing chemicals. They go on to say that some products causing these illnesses may have been acquired from unknown or unauthorized (i.e., “street”) sources; and can be modified, increasing their potential for harm to the user.

But this isn't just a problem for tobacco smokers. According to the CDC, "many patients have reported using e-cigarettes containing cannabinoid products such as THC or CBD."

What Should You Do

While acknowledging that the recent vaping illnesses are part of an ongoing investigation, the CDC offers several recommendations to a public on edge:

Don't buy vapes from an unreputable source

Anyone who uses e-cigarette products should not buy these products off the street (e.g., e-cigarette products with THC, other cannabinoids) and should not modify e-cigarette products or add any substances to these products that are not intended by the manufacturer.

Monitor your symptoms

Regardless of the ongoing investigation, e-cigarette products should not be used by youth, young adults, pregnant women, as well as adults who do not currently use tobacco products. If you use e-cigarette products, monitor yourself for symptoms (e.g., cough, shortness of breath, chest pain) and promptly seek medical attention if you have concerns about your health. CDC and FDA will continue to advise and alert the public as more information becomes available.

Write down this information

If you are concerned about harmful effects from e-cigarette products, call your local poison control center at: 1-800-222-1222. The CDC also encourages the public to submit detailed reports of any unexpected tobacco or e-cigarette-related health or product issues to the FDA via the online Safety Reporting Portal: https://www.safetyreporting.hhs.govexternal icon.

Vaping is generally considered one of the safest forms of consuming cannabis. According to a study by Public Health England 

Russia and few countries like Canada are at loggerheads over the issue of cannabis and hold conflicting views on drug related legislation. As per the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’s (UNODC’s) World Drug Report 2019, Russia along with the US and China was one of the three countries that together accounted for 43% of injected drug use globally.

Russia has identified the drug and crime policy as an area challenging the existing Western-dominated order and has strongly advocated a hard-line approach that seeks to eliminate the illegal drug market. On the other hand, the US has softened its stance on drug policy since the last decade.

Russia has taken hard-line stance on drugs and has expressed its counter-narcotics vision in a number of multilateral forums. In addition, the Russian Federation has continued to be a relatively important donor to the UNODC. Russia ranked 15th among major donors to the Special Purpose Fund (SPF) in 2017, according to the UNODC’s 2017 Annual Report. Moreover, in 2010 Russia made a voluntary contribution of USD7 million to the UNODC.

Russia has opposed the regularisation of cannabis markets as it believes that it violates a number of the UN Conventions. It may be recalled that in October 2018, a Russian statement on twitter said that Canada’s efforts to legalize pot will lead to an increase in international drug trafficking and contradicts existing treaties.

The translated Russian testimonial reads: “By consciously torpedoing the international drug control regime, the Canadian government is creating the largest drug market in the world that, despite all the claims and measures being considered to prevent the export of cannabis outside national borders, will certainly raise considerable traffic to other states, including those which are strictly adhered to in the spirit and letter of the conventions mentioned”. Canada provided a form of response to the Russian intervention when its permanent representative Ambassador Heidi Hulan clarified that policy shifts in Canada were a response to the country’s domestic situation and were not intended to apply in other countries with their own distinctive challenges. In 2019, Russia sponsored the resolution, ‘Supporting the International Narcotics Control Board in fulfilling its treaty-mandated role’ before the Commission on Narcotics Drug (CND).

A Russian delegate explained to the Committee that this resolution expressed “deep concern about legalisation of non-medical use of certain drugs in some regions, which represents a challenge to the universal implementation of the drug control conventions, a challenge to public health and well-being, particularly among young people, and a challenge to the States’ parties to the conventions”.

Russia has been critical of Canada’s marijuana legislation and believes Canada had opened a ‘Pandora’s box’ as cases of drug violation have started to multiply and this contravenes international law.