Uruguay is recognized as a leader in cannabis research

Green Flower Media, the leading cannabis education platform in the United States, recognized Uruguay as one of the five leading countries in the world in cannabis research, along with Israel, Canada, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. The publication also noted that our country became the first Latin American nation to export medical cannabis in 2019.

In the article released in February, Green Flower Media referred to Uruguay as one of the leaders in the field and highlighted the role of companies installed in the country, which continue to "grow and provide quality cannabis for research, in order to provide answers to the persistent questions about the use of the plant".

Green Flower Media also congratulated Uruguay for being the first country to legalise at national level, the use and possession of cannabis for personal use. In 2013, the country passed a law on the production and processing of cannabis products that set a global trend, becoming the first country to regularize cultivation and to have a framework for both medical and industrial production.

Regarding the impact of this regulation, Green Flower Media highlighted that Uruguay has become "the starting point of the wave of cannabis legalization in the world". This has allowed thousands of sick people "to experience the (medicinal) power of the plant," the publication said.

In September 2019, the Uruguayan company Fotmer Life became the first Latin American company to export medical cannabis with a high THC content, one of the best known cannabinoids and with medical use for various conditions.

Recreational and medical use are just two possibilities offered by industrial cannabis cultivation. Some other uses of the plant are: the production of grains for food and oil processing or for seed multiplication, projects linked to the production of textiles, paper, bioplastics and building materials. At present, 26 companies have been authorized in Uruguay for the cultivation of non-psychoactive cannabis and there are several projects under evaluation. Of the companies present in the country, 21 are dedicated to cultivation, 5 to manufacturing and 16 to scientific research projects.

Uruguay offers a number of structural competitive advantages for the development of the cannabis sector, including the size of the country itself and the ease of controlling the cannabis production chain in the territory. It is also worth noting its privileged location at a latitude comparable to the best production areas in the world, which allows for off-season production to the northern hemisphere; and the favourable agronomic conditions. These qualities, together with other aspects such as transparency, reliability, legal security and political, economic and social stability, make Uruguay the safest country to invest in a region of high economic attractiveness, especially in this sector of activity.