Daya Foundation

Daya Foundation gardeners estimate that the 400 plants they have grown for the Municipality of La Florida (a suburb of the capital, Santiago) will yield approximately 120 kilos of dried bud. In the coming days, the bud will be transported, under police escort, to a laboratory, where scientists will begin to extract cannabis oil for use by medical patients.

The Daya Foundation made international news when it launched the ambitious programme in September. The seeds were provided by Dutch company Paradise Seeds, which became the first company to receive a Government license to export seeds to Chile.

It has been a dramatic few months for the Daya Foundation, which campaigned hard for the rights of medical patients to have access to a cannabis based treatment. The extract from their first harvest will be used to treat 200 cancer patients in La Florida Municipality.

The Daya Foundation is already planning ahead for the next planting season (September) and intends to buy a new plot of land away from the city to benefit from cleaner air and more environmental control (through the use of greenhouses).

It has ambitious plans for expansion and has discussed with 15 Municipalities the possibility of providing cannabis oil for medical patients in their districts. Daya co-founder, Nicola Dormal, says, "We hope the next stage will involve 20 Municipalities which will fund their share of the grow. This way we can increase production and bring costs down. With 20 Municipalities involved, we would hope to produce enough cannabis oil to treat 4000 patients next year."

The Daya Foundation grow almost didn't happen at all. The organisation could not find a seed company willing to provide seeds (due to Chile's import restrictions), until they contacted Luc Krol from Paradise Seeds. He worked with Daya to make the project happen and eventually Daya gained a special Government license, allowing the import of 400 seeds including Paradise Seeds varieties, Wappa, Durga Mata and Ice Cream.

Paradise Seeds founder, Luc Krol, commented."We are proud to be involved with the Daya Foundation grow. They are following a medical cannabis path that is innovative, community minded and potentially a blueprint for other countries.