Laura Ramos, CannaReporter. Read the indepth, original report here.
In Brazil, everything happens on a grand scale and in contrast to Europe: even before a law was in place to regulate the sector, social unrest and the pressing need for thousands of patients to access cannabis for therapeutic purposes mobilized an entire industry, which flourished even before Anvisa—the Brazilian Health Surveillance Agency—was able to define the rules.
Avisa is expected to announce cannabis cultivation rules this month.
According to the latest data from Kaya Mind, there are more than 670,000 patients using medicinal cannabis in Brazil. More than 50,000 doctors have prescribed cannabinoids at least once, and currently, approximately 10,000 doctors regularly prescribe cannabis to their patients.
More than 800 people attended the Congress, which was divided into six modules, four of which were dedicated to healthcare: Dentistry, Veterinary Medicine, Agribusiness, and B2B. 150 speakers and experts spoke at the fair. Around 50 exhibitors, mostly CBD oil brands and patient associations, represented over 100 brands from Brazil, the United States, Paraguay, Colombia, and Uruguay.
Doctor participation soars as industry waits for ANVISA to publish rules for cultivation
This year, the Congress grew 25% compared to last year’s total registrations. “We had two and a half times more dentists, and the registration of veterinarians and pharmacists more than doubled.
Regarding physicians, we had 60% more than last year,” he congratulated. This increased demand for information from healthcare professionals is related “not only to the fact that they want to learn more, but also to the opportunity to have contact with the market,” Jordão stated. “Anvisa authorized veterinarians to prescribe last year, which made them more eager to learn. Furthermore, compounding pharmacies [working with cannabis] are also growing significantly: out of a total of 8,000 compounding pharmacies, more than 200 are already working with cannabis,” he explained.
But the biggest growth opportunity in Brazil, according to Daniel Jordão, lies in cultivation: “There are huge expectations regarding cultivation, equipment, and all the technology involved in plant production. This will be a great growth avenue for Brazil, with new business opportunities. I believe this is a market with great potential,” he said, “as long as the regulations are defined by Anvisa,” he cautioned.
The rules for cannabis cultivation in Brazil were expected to be announced by Anvisa in September, but are still awaited. This is a highly anticipated announcement by the entire Brazilian industry. The first deadline to submit the revised RDC 327, from 2019, ended on 19 May 2025, but Anvisa requested a further postponement after a first attempt was rejected by the court.
There is a great deal of curiosity among all professionals in the cannabis industry in Brazil to know what this new law will be like, especially among associations, many of which are currently cultivating on the basis of civil disobedience or a habeas corpus — a special authorization granted by a judge.
However, there’s an interesting point to be made in the Brazilian medical cannabis market: while CBD oils are proliferating as a recognized medicine, with dozens of brands and associations selling cannabidiol-rich oils, flowers and THC are still prohibited (and somewhat frowned upon), essentially due to the association society makes with them being “smokable like marijuana.”
Therefore, it’s not expected that the sale of THC or flowers, even CBD only, will be authorized or regulated by Anvisa. This will, therefore, be one of Brazil’s greatest challenges if it wants to compete with other countries. However, many Brazilian associations already cultivate varieties and produce THC extracts for their patients.
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