Malena revolt
08/09/2021 18:03
Clarín.com
Zonal
Updated 08/09/2021 18:03
He began cultivating on the roof of his house in
Ezeiza.
He was a teenager, he lived with negative and stigmatizing comments about the cultivation and consumption of marijuana and, specifically, what he was doing was illegal.
Only in 2020 was cultivation enabled in Argentina, and only for medicinal use.
Matías Litvak
(32) began to grow marijuana at home and inevitably clandestinely when he was 17 years old, for personal consumption.
Years later, the father of his best friend was diagnosed with cancer.
Then the extraction of cannabis oil to collaborate with his illness led him to find his current job and absolute vocation.
Today he analyzes genetics from Israel to improve products for medicinal purposes, and hopes to be part of the revolution he envisions in the industry.
"That time I proposed to my friend to cultivate something that was really good for him, something professional," says Matías.
Since he lived in a two-room apartment, he resigned his room to create a growing space.
"The father of my friend said that we were drug addicts. He did not want oil, but we convinced him," he says.
Matías Litvak in indoor cultivation at Bar-Ilan University in Israel.
That culture specifically intended for medicinal use, was the best and most remembered by Litvak, and the one that aroused thousands of questions and wishes: "I realized that I wanted to dedicate myself to this because medicine was incredible. I began to see how I could collaborate and military to break all the prejudices that abound in our society regarding cannabis. "
He began as part of
Mamá Cultiva Argentina
- an organization of relatives of boys with epilepsy that promotes the use of medical marijuana - five years ago.
Together with this organization, he began to defend and demand the legality of self-cultivation and solidarity cultivation of cannabis for the health of people with different conditions and diseases.
Since then, his only objective was to professionalize in an activity that in his country was completely illegal.
He emigrated three years ago and, although he sometimes considers it a sacrifice and missing is uncontrollable, his goal is clear.
In the midst of the pandemic, he traveled to
California
,
where marijuana has been completely legal since 2018
, to care for a cultivation of 5,000 plants in the middle of the mountain.
According to his forecasts, in a few years Argentina could also have opportunities to work cannabis and lead the Latin American industry.
Matías in California, working as a “caretaker” in the middle of the mountain.
He is currently
director of cultivation, research and development at the Bar-Ilan public university
and the private company Cann-Il.
Both are located in the city of Ramat Gan in Israel, one of the countries that leads the cannabis industry for medical use.
"I left Argentina because the conditions to develop in what I am passionate about were not given, but I always have the desire and intention to return," clarifies Matías Litvak in dialogue with
Clarín
.
His work at the Israeli university is based on helping agronomists and students who worked with the plants.
Without degrees or academic training, Litvak surprises experts, who could claim that he has at least a doctorate.
"It is a very orthodox and conservative institution, but it breaks with many structures. It is researching heavily about cannabis, and being able to collaborate with them without having any title seems to me very valuable," he says.
While gaining experience and receiving proposals from companies around the world, the former neighbor of Ezeiza hopes to be able to bring all the knowledge and tools to his native country to expand the industry, and finally break with the stigmatization and criminalization of the cultivation and consumption of marijuana that are still valid in much of society.
From the age of 17, he became accustomed to family members and acquaintances treating him as a drug trafficker, and telling him that the cannabis plant was "
the door to other drugs
."
Despite the prejudices, Matías continues to campaign for the naturalization of personal consumption, as well as its medical use.
"It is the easiest thing to say that cannabis is the door to other drugs because there is a lack of knowledge. Many people grew up with the thought that marijuana is a drug that does harm, that it will burn your head and you will not be able to become nobody, "he explains.
Litvak receives job proposals from companies around the world for his knowledge.
The importance of military by legality focuses, in his opinion, on the
medicinal properties
of the plant.
"It is helping and changing the lives of many people," says Litvak, and assures that it should be considered throughout the world as a medicinal drug that contributes to the treatment of various pathologies.
One of Matías' activities is, while he continues to collaborate with professionals abroad, to teach and answer, to the best of his ability, all the questions that are posed to him about marijuana.
"It takes me a lot of time but I answer all the messages because I know that on the other side maybe there is the mother of a son with epilepsy or a boy who has a father with cancer," he declares.
For Litvak, sharing knowledge goes beyond any kind of economic benefit: "I don't want to profit from what I know, I prefer to share it and then, to generate the income that will support me and let me live, I work in the industry."
Through informative videos and tutorials published on his instagram, he hopes to "give the plant a voice so that it stops criminalizing users and growers."
"Knowledge is to be shared, to those who want to listen we are going to tell them everything. For me it is a pleasure."
The panorama that Matías poses for the cannabis industry in the long term involves various sectors and would even allow its academic development in universities.
As is currently the case in Israel, he claims that several countries are beginning to see marijuana as a growth opportunity.
"Everyone sees the industry that is coming, so it is a necessity to prepare the professionals who are going to be working," he highlights.
In the same way, he considers that the prohibition and criminalization of the crop could work against the moment of hiring professionals for teaching in Argentina.
"There are many Argentine growers around the world, who
had to develop in a black market
but have a very great experience and can provide a lot to the educational system," says Litvak.
Despite the potential complications, the director of cannabis cultivation and research sees great opportunities that go hand in hand with regulation of the industry in Argentina.
Together with three colleagues, he opened a consulting office and already has projects for the country.
From abroad, Matías Litvak is undoubtedly betting on a future far from prohibitions and criminalization: "
I really want to be part of a revolution
, of a change that improves the quality of life of many people with medicine and the generation of jobs, and an industry that can contribute to regional and national economies. "
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