In the world · Cannabis · 28 January 2026
Cannabis associations and the Anvisa sandbox
RDC 1,014/2026 creates a controlled environment for patient associations to grow medical cannabis, with no sales and for five years. What this changes.
bairogonzalez.com team, drawing on Bairo's story · Published
With RDC 1,014/2026, approved on January 28, 2026, and published on February 3, Anvisa (Brazil's health regulator) created an experimental regulatory environment, the so-called sandbox, specifically for non-profit patient associations. They will be able to grow plants with up to 0.3% THC and produce extracts under supervision, with traceability through to the patient, for an initial period of five years. The rule does not authorize commercial sale.
What happened
Patient associations grew in the vacuum left by the rules. For years, many operated under court rulings, case by case, while the sanitary rules had no place for them. RDC 1,014 is Anvisa's response to this reality.
From what the agency disclosed and what Brasil de Fato reported, the model works like this:
- who participates: non-profit associations, selected through public calls yet to be launched;
- what they can do: grow in monitored areas and produce medicinal extracts and inputs;
- what they cannot do: sell commercially;
- how they are controlled: a monitoring plan, quality indicators, traceability through dispensing, security and controlled access to cultivation areas;
- for how long: an initial validity of five years, so that Anvisa can assess sanitary viability and gather data before any permanent rule.
According to Brasil de Fato, Anvisa director Thiago Campos described the model as a controlled regulatory environment, with supervised activities subject to safety criteria. More than fifteen associations were consulted in preparing the rule.
Why it matters
The size of the associations explains the importance of the rule. According to the Kaya Mind yearbook, of the roughly 873,000 people who used cannabis products in Brazil in 2025, close to 226,000 were served by associations, about a quarter of the total. The same survey recorded 315 active association CNPJs (company registrations) and an average price per bottle of R$ 363 at them, compared with R$ 679 at pharmacies.
These numbers show two things. One is that associations are already a real access route, especially for those who cannot afford the imported or pharmacy product. The other is that, without a sanitary framework, this route depended on the luck of each court case.
The sandbox does not solve everything. It is temporary, selective and starts with calls that have not yet been opened. But it replaces insecurity with a supervised path, and turns the associations' experience into data that can guide the definitive rule.
In Congress, the subject remains alive: on May 19, 2026, the Chamber of Deputies' Committee for the Defense of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities approved a seminar on the role of associations in access and research under Anvisa's new framework.
In Bairo's view
For Bairo Leandro Gonzalez Martinez, the story of the associations is a story of people who did not wait. Families organized, went to court and built, with their own hands, access that the rules did not yet offer. In his reading, it is the same movement that turns pain into a proposal.
But Bairo also sees the limits of improvisation. For him, access without quality control is a risk for those who most need protection. That is why he sees the experimental model as a bridge between what the associations learned in practice and what science and health surveillance require. Test, measure, record and only then decide: that is how he understands the responsible way to open a new door.
Where this meets the ecosystem
Xperienc Global Labs, founded by Bairo in London, has medical cannabis as a field of research and proposes bringing together laboratories, teleconsultation with a clinical assistant validated by a professional and the Global Language translator for a second clinical opinion, not a medical report. An environment that generates quality data on extracts and patients is the kind of foundation research needs.
The agent orchestrator CLAIN, under development, is born from the idea of bringing organized information to those who cannot pay for it. Applied to this subject, it would be a proposal to help patients and families understand the rule, never to recommend a product or dose.
To separate what science already knows from what is still being studied, read The plant and the science. If your question is about your own case, it begins with a consultation with a qualified professional.
Sources
- Anvisa, "Anvisa publica regras para produção de cannabis medicinal" (Anvisa publishes rules for medical cannabis production), 02/03/2026: gov.br/anvisa
- Brasil de Fato, on the associations and the sandbox, 01/29/2026: brasildefato.com.br
- Kaya Mind, Anuário da Cannabis Medicinal 2025 (Medical Cannabis Yearbook 2025): kayamind.com
- Chamber of Deputies, legislative tracking page for PL 399/2015 (seminar of 05/19/2026): camara.leg.br