Brazil: ANVISA suspends Abrace Esperança cultivation authorization

On the last Friday of February, the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) saw its action in the Federal Court advance with the fulfillment of a request for suspension of a sentence that authorized the cultivation of cannabis by Abrace Esperança, an association of patients from Paraíba. According to Anvisa, the association was producing cannabis oil “on an industrial scale”, without taking “measures to prevent the undue spread of cannabis”. The association denies it and says it obeys all production rules.

Medical cannabis in Brazil, despite being legal, still does not reach all inhabitants, mainly due to the associated economic factor. In the American country, several patients turn to self-cultivation to obtain cannabis for medicinal purposes through Habeas Corpus processes. However, Associação Abrace is the only collective entity authorized to produce in Brazil, and more than 14 associates use it with prescriptions for cannabis for medicinal purposes that are not available in pharmacies. Thousands of mothers and fathers of patients who depend on cannabis-based medical treatment are apprehensive about the possibility of losing access to it in the coming weeks, following the lawsuit by the health regulatory agency against the Abraçe association. The information is from BBC News Brazil.

The court decision, signed by federal judge Cid Marconi, accepted the request made by Anvisa. On the 11th, the judgment on the merits of the action carried out by the authorities will be evaluated by a team of judges from the Federal Regional Court of the 5th Region. “Abrace is not complying with these determinations, which forced Anvisa, after unsuccessful attempts to remedy the problems, to report the situation to the court in order to avoid a health risk that could worsen the health of patients”, said the agency, in a note to BBC News Brazil. “Anvisa always acts with a focus on the commitment to protect and promote the health of the population by intervening, when necessary, in the risks arising from the production and use of products and services subject to health surveillance,” added the agency.

Abrace was the first patient association to obtain authorization to grow cannabis for medicinal purposes in Brazil. As it was the first and, for a long time, the only association to legally produce the oil, this institution ended up becoming a popular destination for fathers and mothers who are unable to treat their children with the traditional medication prescribed by doctors. “It was an ill-advised decision when you consider that there are lives at stake on the other side”, says Cassiano Teixeira, director of the association. “There are thousands of people who depend on the drug to live. Imagine having a serious illness and discovering, all of a sudden, that your medicine will no longer be manufactured. If patients start dying, who will be held responsible?”

Legally, now Abrace can only produce oil for 151 patients, the initial number of associates at the beginning of the process. However, today the association serves 14.400 people throughout Brazil, monthly. Members pay around 30 euros to have access to the medicinal oil, delivered at home. Most of the drug is used by people with severe epilepsy, autism, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

In 2014, Anvisa started to authorize the importation of CBD medicines, but it is still an unfeasible process for families with lower incomes. President Jair Bolsonaro (non-party) has already stated that he is in favor of the medicinal use of cannabis, although he is against the cultivation of the plant in the country. “With me, there is no release of drugs or planting”, he said in September of last year.

On the other hand, in recent years, the Court itself has authorized individual planting for medical treatment through preventive habeas corpus.