The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine supported the bill on legalization of cannabis

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine supported the bill on legalization of cannabis. In addition, the Ministry of Health notes that it is ready to ensure a full cycle of production of cannabis-based drugs in Ukraine: from cultivation and processing to full-fledged production.

The Minister of Health Viktor Lyashko wrote about this on Facebook.

The Cabinet of Ministers supported the bill "On regulation of cannabis plants for medical, industrial purposes, scientific and scientific-technical activities to create conditions for expanding patientsʼ access to the necessary treatment of cancer and post-traumatic stress disorder resulting from the war."

"We understand the negative effects of the war on mental health. We understand the number of people who will need medical treatment as a result of this exposure. And we understand that there is no time to wait. Therefore, we have already prepared the legal basis for ensuring the full cycle of production of cannabis-based drugs in Ukraine: from cultivation and processing to full-fledged production," Lyashko said.

According to him, communication campaigns against the production of cannabis drugs deliberately identify drugs based on cannabis with illicit cannabis. This is done to undermine the value of cannabis as a medicine and to discredit the very idea of its use for medical purposes.

"But in reality, cannabis drugs are not ʼcompetitorsʼ to drugs, and measures to regulate their circulation are quite different. "Medical cannabis contains cannabidiol, which has no pronounced psychoactive effect, so it is not interesting for recreational use," said the Minister of Health.

Nevertheless, the Ministry of Health proposes to establish strict control over the cultivation, production, and sale of drugs, given the sensitivity of this issue in society.

"We are ready to gradually develop this industry, showing the results of treatment and care to Ukrainian patients. Not to import, but to make ours, Ukrainian”, wrote Lyashko.

• Earlier this year, the head of the parliamentary committee on health care, Mykhailo Radutsky, said that the Verkhovna Rada plans to pass a law on legalization of medical cannabis in 2022. He stressed that the new bill differs from the previous one by strengthening the control of the National Police over the circulation of cannabis. The document also clearly defines what medical cannabis is and how it will be imported.
• This is not the first year that the use of marijuana for the treatment of seriously ill people has been discussed in Ukraine. Activists regularly attend the Hemp March, and some patients in Ukraine are suing for cannabis treatment.
• On July 13, 2021, the Council did not vote in favor of legalizing cannabis for medical and scientific purposes.