Anvisa publishes call for scientific evidence on cannabis cultivation

The National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) published, this Thursday (11/13), a crucial call for the future of medicinal Cannabis cultivation in Brazil. The Call Notice No. 23/2025 aims to gather scientific studies already published on the subject for medicinal and pharmaceutical purposes.

According to Anvisa, the collected information will help in drafting a proposal for a regulation on medicinal Cannabis cultivation in the country. The call, which comes from the 5th Directorate, is technical and focused on "ensuring a plurality of sources, transparency, and a technical-scientific basis". 

There are no prizes, funding, or merit evaluation. A Technical Systematization Commission will analyze the material and publish a technical report that will serve as a basis for future regulation.

The publication of the call follows the decision of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) — Special Appeal No. 2024250/PR (IAC n. 16). This decision recognized the competence of Anvisa and the Union to regulate the cultivation of Cannabis sativa L. for exclusively medicinal and pharmaceutical use.

The STJ ruling also established that sanitary authorization for the planting, cultivation, industrialization, and commercialization of industrial hemp (hemp) is lawful, provided that the technical standards of the competent authorities are observed.

How to participate in the call?

Contributions can be submitted until December 13, 2025 (a 30-day deadline) through an electronic form on Anvisa's portal, available in Portuguese, English, and Spanish.

Graduates, specialists, masters, and doctors, as well as master's and doctoral students, can submit individually or as co-authors.

What type of study is accepted?

Articles already published in indexed journals or recognized repositories (such as SciELO, PubMed, LILACS, etc.) in the three languages will be accepted. The accepted formats are:

- Systematic literature review;

- Scientific article (result of empirical, experimental, or conceptual research);

- Experience report (exposure of practical or laboratory activity).

- Unpublished data, confidential information, or copyright violations will not be accepted.

Topics of interest on cannabis cultivation

The thematic scope seeks input for regulation. Authors should indicate the main theme of their works on medicinal Cannabis cultivation, including:

- Concentrations of cannabinoids and terpenoids and correlation with psychoactive effects;

- Analytical methods for THC and CBD quantification;

- Factors influencing cannabinoid content (in cultivation and post-harvest);

- Botanical and genetic requirements (variability and heredity);

- Impacts of climatic conditions and agroclimatic zoning;

- Traceability, safety, quality control, and good cultivation practices;

- International legislation and models of comparative regulation;

- Legal and socioeconomic studies on judicialization and regulatory impacts.

Requirements and next steps

For submission, it is necessary to provide the link or DOI of the publication, names and affiliations of the authors, and a declaration that the work is publicly accessible.

After the deadline, the Technical Commission will have 30 days for the analysis and consolidation of the report. The call notice mentions that authors of works most aligned with the themes may be selected for an oral presentation.

By participating, authors grant Anvisa a free and non-exclusive license to use the content as technical-regulatory input, with authorship citation guaranteed.