Will Argentina’s new cannabis laws harm the environment?

In May 2022, Argentina’s Congress passed a law regulating the medical cannabis and industrial hemp industries. Nine months later, the country is taking its first steps in the production, sale, and export of the drug, exploring a market that is still in its infancy, but whose value could reach USD 450 million over the next decade, according to official estimates.

With 45 cannabis research and development projects already underway in Argentina, questions are being raised about the potential environmental impact of the nascent industry, both in the cultivation and processing stages. Industry experts interviewed by Diálogo Chino agreed that this is an under-researched area, although some international studies have shown potential risks and benefits.

“We are at a very early stage,” admits Lorena Drewes, who helped draft the new regulations and is currently a consultant for the Federal Investment Council (CFI), a public body that promotes economic development at the provincial level.

Cannabis and the environment

Debates surrounding cannabis in Argentina gained momentum last May, when President Alberto Fernández enacted a law that establishes a regulatory framework for public and private investment throughout the value chain. The law complemented another from 2017 that encouraged scientific and medical research on the drug, but only allowed federal production for health purposes.

The term cannabis refers to the annual plant Cannabis sativa. The species is “complex in its structure,” according to an Argentinian government report, due to the presence of more than 550 chemical compounds. Of these, the most studied are the so-called cannabinoids, especially tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC (responsible for the plant’s popular psychoactive effect) and cannabidiol, or CBD (which has attracted the most interest among health professionals as a treatment for anxiety, insomnia, and autism, among other conditions).

However, as the report explains: “The expansion opportunities for this industry are not limited to recreational and medicinal markets, as there are numerous other applications, including cosmetics, textile fibers, clothing...