Cannabis market grows omitting risks of alleged medicinal use

Marijuana movements have progressively expanded with the advancement of technology. On social networks, it is possible to find a series of profiles that deliberately and without any restrictions advocate drugs. Trade in plant-based products, with alleged medicinal effects, has also grown – a survey carried out by Kaya Mind, a Brazilian company specializing in data and market intelligence in the cannabis segment, showed that Brazil has more than 80 companies with CNPJ open market that operate in this market, even without comprehensive regulation.

According to one of these companies, Remederi, the number of doctors who prescribe the drug has increased by more than 250% in recent years, from 200 prescribers in 2019 to more than 5,000 today.

There are websites that show step-by-step instructions for those who want to acquire the necessary prescription for the purchase of cannabis-based products and that point out the possible health benefits of cannabidiol (CBD), one of the substances in the plant, but without mentioning the possible risks. of marijuana to the organism.

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On the PangaiaCBD website, of an American company that operates in the Brazilian market as a cannabis-based product trader, advertising about the benefits of CBD draws attention. In addition to pointing out the substance as a natural analgesic capable of relieving pain, even in more serious cases such as cancer and fibromyalgia, the company says that CBD reduces the symptoms of Alzheimer’s, Epilepsy and Parkinson’s and even improves sleep. Studies on the use of cannabidiol for these conditions, however, are still of moderate or low quality. In addition, the indiscriminate use of the substance can present adverse effects and risks to the user.

On the other hand, the company also claims, on its website, that there are no side effects, nor any contraindication in relation to its simultaneous use with other drugs. The biased propaganda worries specialists and anti-drug movements.

Another website that encourages medical cannabis treatment is PangoCBD. On the portal, the company does not hide the attempt to release the recreational use of the drug and even provides legal advice for those who wish to cultivate the plant. An article on the website about the “cannabic market boom” says that “debureaucratization remains slow, and the legalization of recreational use does not seem to be close to happening. In any case, the wave is strong. Because while recreational use is not allowed , Brazilians find other opportunities to invest in the market”.

There is no robust scientific evidence on the benefits of cannabis

Several studies and the Brazilian Association of Psychiatry (ABP) have already pointed out that there is no definitive scientific evidence on the supposed benefits of the substance for most diseases. There are exceptions in cases cited by the Federal Council of Medicine (CFM), such as for patients with epileptic seizures related to Dravet, Doose and Lennox-Gastaut syndromes.

In a new resolution that restricted the use of cannabidiol, published in October last year, the CFM explained that the conclusions of studies are still fragile in relation to the safety and efficacy of cannabidiol for the treatment of most diseases. “The Council considers it prudent to wait for the progress of ongoing studies, avoiding exposing the population to risk situations”, declared the CFM at the time.

In an interview with People’s Gazette, psychiatrist Ronaldo Laranjeira warned about the widespread dissemination of false ideas about the medicinal use of marijuana, which disregard the most advanced scientific research. “Marijuana is not magic, as if the herb’s tea could make a patient better from a complex disease. That’s not how medicine works. Marijuana cannot be treated like a miracle drug, which is just making a tea and it will work. Medicine doesn’t work like that. It is not safe for anyone to become a marijuana healer, and that is what has happened in Brazil”, he declared.

The problems with the term “medical marijuana”

Lawyer Roberto Lásserre, national coordinator of the Brazil Without Drugs Movement, regrets the approach used by some sites that, in his assessment, are leading society astray. “There is no such thing as medical marijuana. They are trying in Brazil a way for society to lower its guard so that in the near future, since ‘marijuana has medicinal effects’, recreational use is released. They try to lead society astray so that from now on they ‘generally release’”, he says.

According to Lásserre, some judicial decisions have created “loopholes” for the trade in cannabis-based medicines. He even cited a decision by the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) which granted three people the possibility of cultivating the marijuana plant in order to extract oil for their own use. According to Brazilian legislation, the cultivation of the plant constitutes a crime.

“It was an extremely ill-formulated decision to allow marijuana to be grown at home for medicinal purposes. And the worst thing is that several judges are making decisions of this type, setting precedents for a possible release of the drug”, explained the lawyer.

Justice decisions, influenced by disinformation campaigns by companies interested in releasing the drug, contribute to increasing the circulation of clandestine extracts of homemade cannabidiol, many of which do not work and can have harmful side effects for those who consume them.

In Brazil, the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) only authorized the importation of cannabidiol and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) extracts for the manufacture of products in Brazil. In 2019, the agency defined that these compounds would be blacklisted due to the risk of dependence, increased tolerance (need to ingest ever-increasing amounts to obtain the minimum desired effect) and intoxication.

The 20 products with these elements approved by the agency so far (they are not considered drugs due to lack of consolidated scientific evidence of efficacy) must be prescribed with a yellow prescription (THC index lower than 0.2%) or blue (THC index higher 0.2%, higher risk).

The only drug based on THC and cannabidiol approved to be imported into Brazil is Mevatyl, produced in the United Kingdom. It was approved by Anvisa as an adjunct medicine in the treatment of spasticity in multiple sclerosis, caused by damage or injury to the part of the central nervous system (brain or spinal cord) that controls voluntary movement.

Medicinal use to release recreational use

As sources heard by the report point out, some of the supporters of the so-called “medical cannabis” use the flag of the medical use of marijuana to try to make the recreational use of the drug viable.

Republic attorney Lucas Gualtieri, who is coordinator of the Special Action Group to Combat Crime (Gaeco) explains that although the illnesses that can be treated with CBD are limited, companies that operate in the sector usually take advantage of some medicinal properties. to expand the so-called “recreational use” of marijuana.

“There is a distortion of the medicinal properties of the plant, leading to its use without the necessary controls for the patients’ own protection. The medicinal properties of the plant are used as a pretext to instill in society the idea that recreational use is harmless, the which is not true, as consistent technical-scientific studies demonstrate”, he declares.

“There are no safe means of controlling the doses of the active principle, and even the lack of control over the quality of the drug becomes a potential risk. medicinal purpose would be the same as defending the legalization of opium to enable the medicinal use of morphine”, he said.

A People’s Gazette already showed the huge interest of the global financial market in marijuana. According to an analysis by the BDSA consultancy, published in March last year, global sales grew 48% in 2020 compared to 2019, reaching US$ 21.3 billion. The perspective is to reach US$ 55.9 billion by 2026, which would represent an annual growth rate of around 17%.

In the National Congress, the marijuana lobby tries at all costs to approve Bill 399/2015, which authorizes activities such as cultivation, processing, storage, transport, industrialization, manipulation and commercialization of marijuana-based products in the country and deals with the use medicinal use of certain plant components. The project was approved by a special commission in the Chamber of Deputies and is awaiting analysis in the House Plenary.