Cannabis research, medical use make strides in Brazil
Research into cannabis and its medical use made significant headway in Brazil in the last ten years. Strides follow the global trend in the regulation of drugs made with marijuana, said neuroscientist Sidarta Ribeiro, professor at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte state (UFRN).
“This is greatly due to the action taken by patients and their family members, who have come together in associations. This has gained more and more ground. Tens of thousands of people receive medical treatment with cannabis. This wasn’t the case ten years ago. Today, a large number of people are authorized to import [these medicines] and buy them at the drugstore, even though they’re very expensive,” he said.
Professor Ribeiro took part in the international seminar Cannabis Tomorrow: a Look into the Future, last weekend at the Modern Art Museum of Rio de Janeiro (MAM), promoted by research foundation Fiocruz and the Support Association for Medicinal Cannabis Research and Patients (APEPI).
Tradition and prohibition
The prohibition of cannabis in Brazil has failed to meet its goal—to reduce the recreational use of the substance and the violence arising from illegal trade—and people are coming to realize this now, the professor argued.
“People are becoming aware they’ve been deceived, that a lot of injustice has been committed in the name of war against marijuana. They’re coming to realize that if they actually need it—or a family member, maybe a friend—in order to deal with life-and-death situations, they can break the bonds of the defamation marijuana’s been under for so many decades,” he noted.
The association
Lawyer Margarete Brito, founder and director of APEPI, explains that the association was created in 2014 to help families and patients who saw in medical cannabis a chance to greatly improve the quality of life of people with rare and neurological diseases, like epilepsy. Her family was the first to get court authorization to plant marijuana and extract medicinal oil at home. After that, she started APEPI in a bid to help other patients. Today, the association supplies the oil to nearly 4 thousand patients.
This is the third event the association promotes in partnership with Fiocruz, the first in 2018. The speakers, Brito said, showcased the strides seen in research, medicine, and the use of medical cannabis across Brazil.
“That includes reports from doctors and researchers attending this edition, talking about how much the debate has advanced. Associations are now having a chance to plant cannabis and pave the way for further research. Today, APEPI works in partnership with the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro [UFRRJ] and the State University of Campinas [Unicamp], tasked with all oil dosage regulation. At the last seminar, back in 2019, these things didn’t even exist.”
She notes the importance of maturing the debate around medical marijuana, also in a bid to make access to such medicines cheaper. In her view, the price may lower after the approval of the bill on planting Cannabis sativa for medical purposes and the sale of drugs containing extracts, substrates, or parts of the plant. The piece of legislation was approved by a special lower house commission last month, but its progress was halted again.
Research
Valcler Rangel, a public health physician and institutional relations adviser to Fiocruz, explains the foundation plans to roll out initiatives to stimulate research in the area, in an attempt to make the use of medical cannabis available in public care.
“We’re drafting a proposal to encourage research and comprehensive studies in the area—including interdisciplinary studies, reaching biology, with clinical studies, and also social sciences. The idea is to promote studies on the medical use of cannabis, with new platforms for analysis and permanent work groups bringing together members of both universities and society to tackle the difficulties of cannabis use.”
A Unicamp study showed that cannabinoids are effective in the treatment of neurological diseases. Other studies have proved the effectiveness of cannabinoids against nausea caused by chemotherapy, and against fibromyalgia and sleep disorders, as well as in increasing appetite and decreasing weight loss in HIV patients.
