Medical marijuana has been legalized in Ukraine

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine voted with a majority of 248 votes in favor of the bill on the legalization of medical cannabis, reports with the BBC.

Photo: IStock

In the first reading, the Verkhovna Rada adopted a bill on the legalization of medical marijuana back in July, then 268 deputies voted for the decision. However, the history of attempts to legalize cannabis in Ukraine is much longer.

Long way

The first serious initiative was taken back in 2016 - it came from the former Minister of Health Oleg Musiy, but was withdrawn at the last moment.

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In 2019, Ukrainian public organizations representing the interests of patients and military veterans in need of medical cannabis again expected imminent legalization. But in Ukraine the government changed, a parliamentary crisis began, and the next bill was never considered.

Even during his election campaign, Vladimir Zelensky said that he supported the legalization of medical cannabis. He noted that he even consulted on this matter with the famous Ukrainian pediatrician Yevgeny Komarovsky.

But just six months after his election, in October 2019, he brushed off previous promises: “Why do we need this? We have a lot of problems. It seems so to me. Those who want will endure.”

In October 2020, Zelensky promised that he “will not be afraid and will submit a bill” on the legalization of medical cannabis to the Verkhovna Rada if “the people” support this issue.

During local elections in the fall of 2020, the authorities conducted a survey that showed that the idea of ​​legalizing cannabis for medical purposes was supported by 65% ​​of citizens who agreed to take part in the study.

At the same time, an inter-factional group in parliament prepared a draft law on the legalization of medical cannabis. It was submitted to an extraordinary vote of the Verkhovna Rada in July 2021. But the Rada did not support it - only 184 out of the required 226 votes of deputies voted in favor.

The war helped legalize

Scientists, doctors, psychologists and patient associations advocated legalization. Since the start of the war, activists have also begun to highlight how access to legal medical cannabis can help people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Thus, American scientists recently compared patients with PTSD using legal medical cannabis (containing TCH and other active ingredients) with a control group that did not take cannabis.

“Over one year, cannabis users reported a significant reduction in the severity of PSTD symptoms compared to the control group. Participants who used cannabis were 2,57 times more likely to no longer meet diagnostic criteria for PTSD at the end of the follow-up period compared to participants who did not use cannabis,” the study authors wrote.

Based on the experience of other war-torn countries, the Ukrainian Ministry of Health predicts that after the war in Ukraine as a whole, 15,7 million people will need psychological help, of which 800 thousand may suffer from serious mental disorders.

In the fall of 2022, the department presented the results of the first study of the psychological state of the population since the beginning of the war. 40% of those surveyed said they had experienced a threat to their lives due to being under fire or in a combat zone; 16% lost a loved one in the war; 5% were occupied or captured. According to the survey, the psychological consequences of the war are experienced most severely by those who were forced to leave their home. All these experiences can potentially lead to the development of PTSD - according to the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, 57% of respondents have such a risk.

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The Ukrainian Ministry of Health is confident that the legalization of cannabis will bring Ukraine closer to the European healthcare system. The law proposes a strict system of control over prescribed drugs, issuing licenses to manufacturers and quality control - up to establishing the percentage of the active substance tetrahydrocannabinol in drugs. Control will be carried out by the police and the State Medicines Service.

Criticism

But critics believe that the new project has too many compromises - so many that internal contradictions will not allow it to work fully. In addition, the legalization of cannabis has many opponents in the security forces, who have repeatedly slowed down the initiatives of the Ministry of Health.

Opponents of the legalization of medical marijuana believe that the Ukrainian state is not ready for this, citing the high level of corruption in Ukraine.

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