Ukraine Decriminalizes Medical Marijuana, Pleasantly Surprising Advocates And Patients

The Ukrainian government has authorized the use of cannabis for medicinal and scientific purposes, Ukrainian Health Minister Viktor Lyashko announced Tuesday.

"The cabinet supported the bill ‘On regulation of circulation of Cannabis genus plants for medical, industrial purposes and scientific purposes and creation of conditions for expansion of patients’ access to necessary treatment of oncologic conditions and combat-induced post-traumatic stress disorder," Lyashko wrote on his Facebook FB page.  

The Kyiv Post noted that most Ukrainians support medical cannabis legalization, according to the results of a national poll done last year by then-candidate President Vladimir Zelensky, who advocated for legalization.

According to Ukraine's Health Minister, a large number of people will benefit from medical marijuana.

"We understand the negative effect of combat on mental health. We understand the number of people who will require medical treatment of this effect," Lyashko wrote. "And we understand that there is no time to wait. So we have already prepared a legal basis to ensure the full cycle of production of cannabis remedies in Ukraine: from growing and refining to full production." 

One journalist seemed pleasantly surprised.

I thought the war will postpone this but, today Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers supported a bill to decriminalize medical cannabis. This step was awaited by hundreds of thousands of patients in need of special treatment.

— katerina sergatskova (@KSergatskova) June 7, 2022

Katerina Sergatskova, editor-in-chief of Zaborona Media, added that the bill has been a long time coming; it was registered in the Supreme Council of Ukraine in June 2021.  
"For many years, [the] Ukranian parliament was reluctant to support the bill. I hope it will pass this time. It will do a lot of good for people."

Photo by Robert Anasch on Unsplash