By Researcher Warns Regulation Must Support Competitiveness
Beatriz Marti Emygdio, president of the Strategic Advisory Committee on Cannabis at the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa), said Brazil’s medical cannabis regulation must prioritize domestic competitiveness. She spoke during the 81st Official Engineering and Agronomy Week (Soea) in Aracaju (SE), concluding her presentation on October 14, 2026.
“It is not enough to regulate cultivation; we must regulate to compete,” Beatriz stated at the event. She argued that Brazilian regulation is reactive because it stems from a court decision rather than a strategy conceived to develop the sector.
In her assessment, this context may cause competitiveness aspects to receive less attention when drafting the rules. She questioned whether the complexity of the requirements will allow the goals of facilitating patient access and reducing medication costs to be achieved in the short and medium term.
Beatriz emphasized that cannabidiol (CBD) is already traded at very low costs on the international market. She warned that rules increasing the complexity and costs of domestic production may reduce the economic feasibility of manufacturing these products in Brazil.
“If we do not structure this regulation so that it allows the sector to be competitive, with production costs that can yield competitive products, we will certainly end up importing material, which will be more viable than producing here in Brazil,” the researcher stated.
Anvisa Details Cultivation Resolutions
The discussion took place on the panel “Medical Cannabis: from Genetics to Medicine building a new supply chain in Brazil,” which brought together representatives from the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa), Embrapa, and specialists.
Renata de Morais Souza, manager of Anvisa’s Controlled Products area, presented the differences between Collegiate Board Resolutions (RDCs) No.
According to the publication by the Federal Council of Engineering and Agronomy (Confea), RDC No. 1,012/2026 regulates cultivation intended exclusively for scientific research.
RDC No. 1,013/2026 establishes conditions for cultivating varieties with a tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content equal to or lower than 0.3%, for medicinal, pharmaceutical, or research purposes. The standards establish requirements for activity authorization, sanitary control, and production traceability.
Renata clarified that authorization for research cultivation does not automatically cover all processing and manufacturing stages. Preparing finished products such as oils, extracts, capsules, and oral solutions requires authorization compatible with the activity carried out.
The same principle applies to extraction and processing operations to obtain active pharmaceutical ingredients or medications.
Technical Obstacles to Brazilian Production
Beyond economic competitiveness, Beatriz Emygdio presented technical obstacles to developing Brazilian production. These include dependence on imported genetics, the lack of cultivars adapted to domestic conditions, phytosanitary challenges, raw material variability, and limited supply of certified seeds and seedlings.
She warned of the risks of introducing genetic material without proper characterization and quarantine procedures, which could foster the spread of viruses. Another challenge is variation in the plant’s chemical composition.
Genetic and environmental factors, nutrition, management, and post-harvest procedures can influence biomass production and cannabinoid concentrations. This variability hinders the standardization of compounds and the achievement of reproducible clinical outcomes.
