It will be part of the Ministry of Economy and will have the rank of undersecretary. Massa highlighted the “enormous global demand for this export industry”
For iProfessional
01/26/2023 – 6:40 p.m.
The national government launched the Regulatory Agency for the Hemp and Medicinal Cannabis Industry (Ariccame). It is an organism that It will regulate public policies for the use of medicinal and industrial cannabis throughout the country.
The National Cannabis Agency, which will have the hierarchy of undersecretariat in the Ministry of Economy, will be in charge of controlling the chain of production, national commercialization and exploitation of the cannabis plant, its seed and its derivative products for medicinal use. Likewise, it will extend licenses and qualifications to companies and organizations that meet the requirements demanded by current regulations.
The management of this new government agency will be in charge of Francisco Echarren which, as detailed in the Official Gazette, was selected by the same directory of the ministry headed by Sergio Massa.
Massa inaugurated the National Cannabis Agency
“Starting up the agency means starting a new industry in Argentina. An industry that has 25,000 different applications and that will allow us to add value in cosmetics, textiles, oil, in an innumerable number of economic sectors “, stressed Minister Massa during the announcement of this decentralized body, which will also work with the provinces.
The presentation was in charge of the Ministers of Economy, Sergio Massa; of Health, Carla Vizzotti; of Security, Aníbal Fernández; of Science, Technology and Productive Innovation, Daniel Filmus; the Secretary of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Juan José Bahillo; and the head of the Cannabis agency, Francisco Echarren.
In addition, the Minister of Economy emphasized that this new body “opens up the opportunity for Argentina to start walking a new path in terms of industry exporter from an enormous global demand”.
“We already have demands from industrialization projects and programs to programs linked to agro-industrial in the Ministry of Agriculture. All this must be transformed into an industry that generates work, exports to Argentina and that generates value,” he added.
There are currently 45 cannabis development projects in Argentina that will generate 5,000 jobs in the first year of implementation and will boost regional economies, according to estimates from official sources.
In this sense, the cannabis industry could create around 10,000 new jobs in the next ten years in Argentina, US$500 million in sales to the domestic market and US$50 million in exportsaccording to projections last year of the then Ministry of Productive Development.
For her part, the Minister of Health, Carla Vizzoti, pointed out that the body “It will promote access, equity and quality of the entire therapeutic area in relation to health”, such as the creation of the category of cannabis-based plant products for their medicinal use and application; work to promote access to medical cannabis through the REMEDIAR program; public production of medical cannabis; and the advances for the incorporation of cannabis into the Argentine Food Code.
