Peru Legalizes Medical Cannabis Oil

Peru, a country once dependent on cocaine trade, is now embracing medical cannabis for the treatment of serious and terminal illnesses. On Thursday, Peru’s congress voted 68-5 in favor of a bill allowing cannabis oil production, commercialization and importation.

On October 11, The Peruvian Congress’ Healthcare Commission approved the bill and passed it along to Congress. Peru’s anti-drug organization CEDRO fought against the bill, but lost in the end.

Ruling party lawmaker Alberto de Belaunde urged his constituents to do the right thing, just before the vote took place. “Science is on our side, the regional current is on our side. Let’s not let our fears paralyze us,” he said. Over the last several months, protesters have gathered at places such as the Interior Ministry in Lima to demand their right to medicine.

In the end, patients won. Belaunde was beside himself after hearing the results. “We did it!! Historic moment for the Congress and the country: Legal medical cannabis,” he tweeted, translated from Spanish.

President Pedro Pablo Kuczynsk reconsidered cannabis after witnessing a heartless crackdown in February on a group of mothers who made cannabis oil to treat their children with epilepsy. The raid was almost universally condemned. The conservative Kuczynski administration has been slow to budge on anything drug-related, given the country’s spotty history with drugs.

According to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, “Peru is now the world’s second largest producer of coca leaf, though it lags far behind Colombia.” Narcos in neighboring Colombia and in Peru have grown the coca leaf for generations, which is why the people of Peru are reluctant to legalize any kind of drug. But now, cannabis is more accepted around the world.

In 2013, Uruguay became the first country to legalize cannabis from seed-to-sale, where cannabis can be found in common pharmacies. Mexico, Colombia, Chile and Argentina have all legalized medical cannabis at varying degrees.