Brazil Just Quietly Hit 873,000 Medical Cannabis Patients. The Industry Convenes In São Paulo This Month.

Brazil now has more than 873,000 medical cannabis patients, a market approaching $200 million in annual revenue, and a regulatory framework that just opened the door to domestic hemp cultivation. The industry gathers at Cannabis Fair 2026 in São Paulo from May 21 to 23. Here’s what US operators need to know about the Latin American market they aren’t tracking.

While most of the US cannabis industry is watching its own federal rescheduling drama and the November hemp THC cliff, the largest cannabis market in Latin America is quietly hitting the kind of patient and revenue numbers that took Germany years to reach.

Brazil’s medical cannabis market generated nearly R$953 million (roughly US$187 million) in 2025, according to the latest data from cannabis consultancy Kaya Mind. The country surpassed 873,000 registered medical patients as of November 2025, a number that puts it in the same territory as Germany, which has between 700,000 and 900,000 medical cannabis patients. Brazil has 221 million residents. Germany has 83 million.

The growth is steep. Patient numbers jumped 56% from 2023 to 2024. Revenue grew 22% in the same period. ANVISA, Brazil’s national health regulator, has now registered 49 medical cannabis products. More than 2,180 cannabis-based products are available across the country, and patients in 80% of Brazil’s 5,570 municipalities can now access them.

The cultivation door just opened

The biggest near-term shift in Brazil’s cannabis economy isn’t the patient growth. It’s a regulatory change that hit in November 2024 and is still working its way through the supply chain.

Brazil’s Superior Court of Justice authorized the import of seeds and cultivation of industrial hemp for medical and pharmaceutical applications. For an industry that has been built almost entirely on imported product, the ruling fundamentally changes the cost structure. Roughly 40% of Brazilian medical cannabis patients still rely on imports through ANVISA’s RDC 660 program, which is one of the most expensive ways to access the medicine. Domestic cultivation, once it scales, should drive prices down and open a path to local manufacturing.

ANVISA is expected to finalize regulations on industrial hemp imminently. When that happens, Brazil moves from being one of the world’s largest medical cannabis import markets to a country with the climate, the agricultural infrastructure and now the legal framework to grow its own.

Where the industry is meeting

The fifth edition of Cannabis Fair takes place at the Transamérica Expo Center in São Paulo from May 21 to 23, 2026. It has positioned itself as Latin America’s primary cannabis business gathering, drawing exhibitors from Brazil, the United States, Colombia and Uruguay. High Times is a media partner.

“Cannabis Fair 2026 is today the major hub of the sector in the country. It’s where we see, in practice, technologies, products and solutions arriving in the market with quality and scientific backing, plus an important advance in discussions about cultivation and the entire production chain that is being structured in Brazil.”

Daniel Jordão, director and co-founder, Sechat

Running parallel to the trade show is the Brazilian Medical Cannabis Congress, a clinical and scientific conference that brings together physicians, researchers, executives and industry representatives. The combination is the closest thing Latin America has to the major US business conferences that define the regulated industry calendar.

Why US operators should care

For US cannabis operators trying to read the global market, Brazil is one of the few jurisdictions that combines real scale with a still-forming competitive landscape. The patient base is approaching German territory. The product market is real and growing. The regulatory framework is moving in a direction that creates room for domestic and foreign capital. And unlike the European markets that have absorbed most of the international investment attention over the past three years, Brazilian licensing and operational costs remain considerably lower.

The country is no longer the next opportunity. It’s the current one.