A bill to legalize medical marijuana in Ukraine has now been \u201cunblocked\u201d from advancing to the president\u2019s desk after an attempt to overturn the reform failed in the parliament.<\/p>\n
Lawmakers approved the medical cannabis legislation last month<\/a>, but the opposition Batkivshchyna party used a procedural tactic to block it by forcing consideration of a resolution to repeal the measure<\/a>. That resolution failed this week, earning just 25 of the required 226 votes.<\/p>\n On Wednesday the bill was formally sent to the desk of President Volodymyr Zelensky, who supports the reform.<\/p>\n MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak of the Holos party announced the development on Telegram on Tuesday, Ukrinform reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n Opponents previously tried to derail the marijuana bill by filing hundreds of what critics called \u201cspam\u201d amendments<\/a>, but that attempt similarly failed, with the measure ultimately passing with 248 votes.<\/p>\n The bill that\u2019s heading to the president would legalize medical cannabis for patients with severe illnesses and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) resulting from the nation\u2019s ongoing conflict with Russia, which launched an invasion of Ukraine nearly two years ago.<\/p>\n While the text of the\u00a0legislation<\/a>\u00a0as introduced only explicitly\u00a0lists<\/a>\u00a0cancer and war-borne PTSD as conditions for which medical cannabis could be dispensed to patients, the chair of the health committee said in July that lawmakers hear daily from patients with other illnesses such as Alzheimer\u2019s disease and epilepsy.<\/p>\n The bill moves marijuana from strictly prohibited under List I to available for medical use with a prescription under List II of the country\u2019s drug code.<\/p>\n The Agrarian Policy Ministry will hold regulatory responsibilities over cannabis cultivation and processing operations. The National Police and State Agency on Medicines will also hold oversight and enforcement authorities related to the distribution of the medicine.<\/p>\n In order to ensure patient access, the measure additionally allows raw cannabis materials to be imported from other countries.<\/p>\n Zelensky, for his part,\u00a0voiced support for medical marijuana legalization last June<\/a>, stating in an address to the parliament that \u201call the world\u2019s best practices, all the most effective policies, all the solutions, no matter how difficult or unusual they may seem to us, must be applied in Ukraine so that Ukrainians, all our citizens, do not have to endure the pain, stress and trauma of war.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIn particular, we must finally fairly legalize cannabis-based medicines for all those who need them, with appropriate scientific research and controlled Ukrainian production,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The law will become effective six months after Zelensky signs the legislation.<\/p>\n During his presidential campaign, Zelensky also voiced support for medical cannabis legalization,\u00a0saying<\/a>\u00a0in 2019 that he feels it would be \u201cnormal\u201d to allow people to access cannabis \u201cdroplets,\u201d which is possibly a reference to marijuana tinctures.<\/p>\n The policy change would put Ukraine is stark contrast to its long-time aggressor Russia, which has taken a particularly strong stance\u00a0against reforming cannabis policy at the international level<\/a>\u00a0through the United Nations. The country has condemned Canada for legalizing marijuana nationwide.<\/p>\n New York Governor Proposes Repealing Marijuana Potency Tax To Reduce Costs And Combat Illicit Market<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Ukraine Medical Marijuana Bill Is \u2018Unblocked\u2019 From Advancing To President\u2019s Desk After Opponents\u2019 Repeal Attempt Fails<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A bill to legalize medical marijuana in Ukraine has now been \u201cunblocked\u201d from advancing to the president\u2019s desk after an attempt to overturn the reform failed in the parliament. Lawmakers approved the medical cannabis legislation last month, but the opposition Batkivshchyna party used a procedural tactic to block it byContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71750"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71750"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71750\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71751,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71750\/revisions\/71751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Ukraine Medical Marijuana Bill Is \u2018Unblocked\u2019 From Advancing To President\u2019s Desk After Opponents\u2019 Repeal Attempt Fails<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"