Four years after the approval of the Law regulating the medicinal and therapeutic use of cannabis in Panama, its application is finally beginning to take effect. Although the regulations were approved in 2021, their implementation progressed slowly, and during this time patients did not have formal access to cannabis-based treatments.
The situation in Panama changed recently with the issuance of a decree that adjusted several points of the original regulations and allowed the licensing process to move forward. Among the most important modifications is the elimination of the requirement for mandatory courses for doctors and pharmacists, which means that now any authorized health professional can prescribe medicinal cannabis following the same rules that apply to other controlled medications.
The closed list of diseases for which it could be prescribed was also eliminated , leaving the decision to medical discretion, and the technical requirements were relaxed to allow companies to begin importing finished products while they adapt their facilities
Thanks to these changes, the Ministry of Health has already granted licenses to several companies to operate within the program, and some have also been authorized to import cannabis-based medicinal products. With this measure, Panama becomes the first country in Central America to grant formal permits for the handling of medicinal cannabis under structured state regulation.
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