Paraguay: Cooperative invites community to participate in cannabis harvest

South America is the scene of bold initiatives, which could even serve as an example to many European countries. The Paraguayan Cannabis Cooperative shared a public invitation to citizens, encouraging them to participate in the cannabis harvest next Sunday, February 19th, in the community of Agüerito, in Santa Rosa del Aguaray, in San Pedro. According to the newspaper ABC, cannabis is a plant of “municipal interest”, which can change the lives of thousands of farming families. The community harvest will be a kind of popular festival and will include the offer of typical foods, music and an assembly where the legalization of the use and cultivation of cannabis in Paraguay will be debated. The harvest will be used to make medicinal oils and ointments that will be distributed by the municipality free of charge or at social prices.

It is an unusual and peculiar initiative. Next Sunday, the 19th of February, the Cooperativa Paraguaya de Canábis has as its program a collective harvest of cannabis, sown in the community field of Agüerito, located in the district of Santa Rosa del Aguaray, department of San Pedro. Anyone interested in joining the collective harvest only needs to go to the Cooperative's premises.

“We want to transform the cannabis harvest into a popular festival”, said Eulalio López, community leader of Agüerito, expressing that “on Sunday, the 19th, we will have music, typical meals and an assembly where we will know details of the bill to legalize the use and cannabis cultivation”.

Eulalio López also mentioned that “for us it is very important that people come to Agüerito, we want them to join the harvest. It is an activity that can change the lives of thousands of peasant families, working legally, in opposition to the misery and persecution of illicit markets”.

Harvest will be used to make oils and ointments for free medicinal use
The leader of the Peasant Resistance Movement confirmed to ABC that “various authorities from the department and from the city of Santa Rosa del Aguaray will be present on February 19”. Likewise, the community of Agüerito took the decision to contribute with the profits generated from the soy harvest towards the installation of a quality laboratory, in order to strengthen the project. “The laboratory is very important. The cannabis oil and ointment are handcrafted, but the quality control will let people know they are getting a good quality product,” said Lopez.

Juan Cabezudo, leader of Cooperativa Paraguaya de Canábis, mentioned that “the product from the February 19 harvest will be used to make oils and ointments for medicinal use. We will deliver our production to the municipality for free distribution”. He added that “the State never complied with Law 6.007 and that the municipality of Santa Rosa del Aguaray is taking the lead in supporting the use of medicinal cannabis”.

 

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Cannabis is a crop of municipal interest

The Municipality of Santa Rosa del Aguaray enacted Ordinance 10/2022 which declared a “national program of study and medical-scientific research on the medicinal use of the cannabis plant” to be of public interest. The decision was taken on July 19 and mentions the establishment “of an experimental, cooperative and organic cultivation of medicinal cannabis, under the responsibility of our municipality, in collaboration with the Paraguayan Chamber of Industrial Cannabis”.

The intention of the municipality is to achieve “the development of academic and scientific research studies for the technical monitoring of cultures and their extractions”.

In this way, it is intended that Santa Rosa del Aguaray has the availability of medical cannabis for patients in its jurisdiction. “All extractions will be destined to the needs of our community, in the first place, and as a solidarity contribution to neighboring communities, by virtue of compliance with Law 6.007/17″, which obliges the Paraguayan State to provide free medical cannabis to people who need this medicine.

The law was enacted in 2017, but the Ministry of Public Health has never delivered cannabis oil to anyone. Until now, it has limited itself to having a national register of users, where only 107 people have registered.

In return, Cooperativa Paraguaya de Canábis created the Cannabis Club, which already has more than 3.000 registrations from people who have started to receive their cannabis medication for free. On harvest day, participants will have the opportunity to buy oils and ointments at social prices, upon prior registration in the form used by the National Directorate of Sanitary Surveillance (Dinavisa).