How Many Medical Cannabis Patients Does Brazil’s Industry Serve?
As it currently stands, dozens of countries around the world have adopted medical cannabis legalization measures, with legalization models ranging from cannabidiol-only laws for patients suffering from a very limited list of approved conditions to national models that permit robust medical cannabis commerce for a wide range of conditions.
Brazil has an operating medical cannabis program, and it’s fairly large. In its recent coverage of Brazil’s emerging legal medical cannabis industry, Sechat provided insight into the size of the nation’s industry and patient base.
“The medical cannabis market in Brazil is undergoing a transformation. In 2024, the sector generated R$853 million and served 672,000 patients in more than 80% of Brazilian municipalities.” Sechat reported (translated from Portuguese to English).
“Of these, 315,000 use products imported via Anvisa’s RDC 660, 208,000 use medicines registered under RDC 327, and 147,000 are served through associations.” the outlet also stated.
In 2023, Brazil’s Superior Court of Justice rendered a landmark ruling that recognized the legal right to cultivate low-THC (up to 0.3%) cannabis in the South American nation. The Court’s decision was the result of an industry-based lawsuit.
At the time of the decision, the Superior Court of Justice determined that ANVISA (Brazil’s Health Regulatory Agency) and the Ministry of Agriculture must establish and publish rules and provisions to regulate low-THC (hemp) commercial production. The Court set a May 19th deadline, however, that deadline will reportedly not be met.
“In a sudden and unexplained move, Brazil’s health agency this week suspended the process to regulate the cultivation of industrial hemp, ignoring a deadline set by the country’s highest court.” reported Hemp Today earlier this week.
In the meantime, Brazil’s medical cannabis patients and industry members will continue to wait for the nation’s government to provide clarity and a greater level of certainty via established regulations.
To put the size of Brazil’s legal medical cannabis patient base into perspective, Germany is currently estimated to have between 700,000 and 900,000 legal medical cannabis patients. Brazil’s estimated total population is roughly 221 million people, whereas Germany’s estimated total population is roughly 83 million people.
