Business

CannAndes, a company that sees cannabis as raw material of the future

Quito, Jul 24 (EFE).-In Ecuador a year ago, company CannAndes began the challenge of generating an industry dedicated to making medicinal and therapeutic products based on cannabis, a plant stigmatized in the country for decades but that could become the raw material of the future.The company settled in the vicinity of the city of Tabacundo, about 80 kilometers north of Quito, on an Andean plateau dominated by the snow-capped Cayambe volcano.(Camera: JOSE JACOME)SOUND BITES: KLAUS GRATZE CANNANDES PRESIDENT AND NINA TAPIA, IN CHARGE OF PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT AT CANNANDES. (IN SPANISH)TRANSLATIONS: KLAUS GRATZE CANNANDES PRESIDENT:The project was really born through my partner who started in 2017, understanding this industry, looking for something to be able to export from Ecuador to the rest of the world. We are a country that has very important advantages in terms of climate, we have the best bananas in the world, the best cocoa in the world, the best roses in the world. So he started looking for a product to be able to export it to the United States and there they began to talk to him about cannabis and the wave that was coming. This started in the world long before. The United States had already decriminalized this in some states, including its recreational use. So he began understanding and looking for the way to make it an industry that would also work in. Then the National Legislative Assembly in 2019 opened the door for non-psychoactive cannabis to be planted and cultivated with up to one percent THC. And this began in 2019 when the COIP reform was formally made, and Ecuador began to migrate to this process of using the cannabis plant in an industrial way, in a medicinal way in our day to day.NINA TAPIA, IN CHARGE OF PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT AT CANNANDES1.They can add CBD or cannabis in absolutely anything you can eat or spread. We have an endocannabinoid system that is responsible for precisely receiving the cannabinoid molecules and what they do is generate an emosteasic balance in the body.2.And what you do is vape, vape at the office, at the bank, at the supermarket. Well now with the mask it is a little more difficult but (takes hit of vape) it has a pleasant aroma, it is natural and it helps, it helps to relax a lot. It helps especially on the issue of smokers who want to quit. So it is incredible for anxiety.3.This cream makes your hair shine more, makes your hair grow, these shampoos can also be made out of oats or flax, but CBD is better I think.4.Stress, anxiety maybe depression, lack of sleep, CBD drops are wonderful. Because what it does is, it does not induce sleep nor is it an antidepressant. What it does is help our body regulate itself, and functions are self-modulated. Then the mood just improves.