The war in Ukraine could have put off the medical cannabis legalization project tabled in June 2021. However, the Ukrainian Ministry of Health announced yesterday that the Ukrainian government supports the legalization of medical cannabis and expects the Rada, the parliament unicameral of the country, that she pass the bill.
“The government supports the draft law regulating the movement of plants of the genus Cannabis for medical, industrial and scientific purposes, and the creation of conditions for the widening of patients’ access to the necessary treatment of cancer and diseases. war-induced post-traumatic stress disorder,” wrote Viktor Liashko, Minister of Health, on his Facebook page.
“We understand the negative effect of war on mental health. We understand the number of people who will need medical treatment for this effect,” Lyashko writes.
“And we understand that there is no time to waste. So we have already prepared a legal basis to ensure the full cycle of cannabis medicine production in Ukraine: from cultivation and processing to full production. »
The bill, which failed to pass last July, provides for the establishment of strict control over the cultivation, production and sale of cannabis-based medicines, including:
- the establishment of licenses for the cultivation of cannabis for medical purposes
- the authorization to cultivate varieties of plants of the genus Cannabis for medical, industrial purposes, in scientific and scientific and technical activities
- the traceability of the circulation of varieties of plants of the genus Cannabis for medicinal purposes, products of their transformation or manufactured drugs
- remove CBD and industrial hemp from controlled substances
- facilitate the import of cannabis by temporarily removing import quotas
The draft generally allows the use of cannabis for medical purposes, but only on the basis of the following restrictions:
- the use of cannabis in medical practice will only be permitted in the form of cannabis-based medicines
- these drugs will only be available to patients on an electronic prescription basis
- additional traceability requirements will apply to these medicines, including the specific marking of each batch and unit of packaged products with a unique code
- patients will only be allowed to store cannabis medicine in the amount specified in the prescription
