As of last week, medical cannabis was legal in Ukraine. This comes about half a year after President Volodymyr Zelensky signed the medical marijuana bill into law, making access to these drugs easier so soldiers could address the mental and physical wounds incurred during the country’s ongoing war with Russia, which invaded Ukraine more than two years ago.
In an update on the new policy, the Ministry of Health stated that marijuana, along with its extracts, resin and tinctures, were excluded from the list of possibly dangerous substances.
Prior to this, the drug’s circulation was banned, but now it’s permitted with some restrictions. Licensing regulations that ensure the cultivation of medical marijuana in Ukraine have been developed and will soon be considered by the Cabinet.
It is important to note that the drug’s chain of circulation, from cultivation or import to dispensing the drug will be subject to license control.
In a post on Facebook, the ministry added that this was a huge step forward in offering care to patients in need of certain treatments. Ukraine had already begun importing cannabis products since the drug was moved to List II of the nation’s drug code, easing access for medical use with a prescription.
While legislators passed the medical marijuana bill in December 2023, the Batkivshchyna party tried to block it by forcing consideration of a legislation to revoke the bill. That legislation failed earlier this year, clearing the bill’s path to enactment. The opposition had also tried to derail the cannabis bill by filing hundreds of amendments. This had also failed, however, with the bill being approved by 248 votes.
The legislation’s taking effect will legalize medical marijuana for patients with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other serious illnesses that have resulted from the country’s ongoing conflict with Russia. While the legislation stipulates that medical marijuana may only be dispensed to patients with cancer and warborne PTSD, the health committee’s chair stated in July that legislators heard daily from patients with illnesses such as epilepsy and Alzheimer’s disease.
The National Police and State Agency on Medicines will hold enforcement and oversight authorities associated with the distribution of the drug. The Ministry of Agrarian Policy is also expected to hold regulatory responsibilities over marijuana growing and processing operations.
In an interview, the country’s deputy prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, Olha Stefanishyna, stated that patients would first have access to imported drugs. She explained that where the drugs came from would depend on foreign manufacturers that possessed the required documents and were approved at the registration stage.
The list of approved conditions that make patients eligible to access medical marijuana shall be published in the coming days.
The coming into force of the medical cannabis law could create a window of opportunity for some established entities, such as Verano Holdings Corp. (CSE: VRNO) (OTCQX: VRNOF), in case they pick an interest in growing their footprint into this international market.
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