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The struggle and persistence of patients, their relatives and supporters eventually paid off. The Peruvian Congress finally recognized the medicinal properties of cannabis and made the medical and therapeutic usage of marijuana legal in Peru.
The new law (Ley N° 30681), published on November 17, 2017 in the official journal El Peruano, is more extensive than in many other countries that already legalized medical marijuana. It allows the informed use, research, production, import and sale of cannabis and its derivates, but exclusively for medicinal and therapeutic purposes in accordance with the regulations provided.
According to the new law, after a thorough consultation and the authorization from a physician, patients are registered with their personal information including disease and cannabis treatment plan, which has to be approved by the Peruvian Ministry of Health, in a special database. They will then receive a prescription for the usage of cannabis and / or its derivates for medicinal and therapeutic purposes.
Furthermore, the Peruvian Ministry of Health establishes additional databases for importers / sellers, producers and researchers that have to apply for corresponding licenses to operate.
The Peruvian penal code will be modified shortly so that users, producers, sellers and researchers who are correctly registered and have an official permission won’t be criminalized and can’t be prosecuted.
In a year the new law, its practicality, effects and misuses are scrutinized and decided if and where possible changes are necessary.
Read the story how it came to the legalization of medical marijuana in our articles "Medical marijuana in Peru legal soon?" and "Medical marijuana in Peru legal soon? - An Update"
