Ukraine legalizes medicinal cannabis, health minister says

Ukraine’s Health Minister Viktor Liashko announced in a Facebook post on June 7 that the government is submitting a medical cannabis law for approval despite the country being in the midst of war. A draft law has been approved by the Cabinet of Ministers and will go to the Ukrainian Parliament for approval.

“We understand the negative consequences of the war for the mental health camp,” Liashko wrote. “We understand the number of people who will need medical treatment at their last breath.”

Kyiv Post reports that a 2021 bill has been revised and the government intends to move forward and legalize medicinal cannabis. “And we understand that there is no time for a review,” he added.

“Cannabis drugs are not ‘competitors’ to drugs, and the measures taken to regulate their cycle are vastly different. Medicinal cannabis contains cannabidiol, which does not have a pronounced psychoactive effect, so it is not suitable for recreational use,” Liashko said.

A bill would strictly regulate the cultivation, production and sale of medicinal cannabis products, as well as permits and licenses for cultivation and scientific research. It would also provide a medicinal cannabis tracking system to provide information for all stages of product circulation.

“At the same time, we were prepared by the legislator for the preparation of a new production cycle of cannabis-based preparations in Ukraine: from the development of this processing to full production,” Liashko added.

Meanwhile, here in the US, cannabis companies are stepping in to help Ukraine amid war. Founded by United States Special Operations Veterans (Marine Raiders), the Helmand Valley Growers Company (HVGC) has a strong focus on veterans (and civilians) battling PTSD. They offer flowers, cartridges and 100% live resin.

Last April, HVGC launched a chillum program with proceeds going to World Central Kitchen to help Ukraine and Battle Brothers, a 501c3 charity that empowers veterans to explore how cannabis can help military veterans with PTSD. This project will conclude with a new Ukraine-focused effort to do what they can.

“This summer we plan to develop chillums and help an organization called The Mozart Group,” HVGC President and CEO Bryan Buckley told The High Times. “You are in Kyiv right now. It’s my former regimental commander while I was a former Marine Raider. His name is Andrew Millburn. It is about 100 former special operators from America, Great Britain and Australia who train Ukrainians in medical and military tactics.

“This thing is going to rage for a long time,” adds Buckley. “Speaking to Colonel Milburn, who is retired, he said that the Russians are ‘worse than ISIS’.”

With PTSD affecting Ukrainians of all kinds, now is the time to legislate on medicinal cannabis.

On June 7, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved a draft law “On the regulation of the dissemination of cannabis plants for medical, industrial purposes, scientific and scientific-technical activities, in order to create conditions for expanding patient access to the necessary treatment of cancer and post -traumatic stress disorder as a result of the war.”

The bill would expand medical services to include medicinal cannabis and encourage research into the plant. It would expand patient access to cannabis with over 50 qualifying conditions, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), HIV, cancer, neurological disorders and neuropathic pain. Epilepsy, glaucoma, psoriasis, Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis are also on the list.

Medicinal cannabis will be available via prescription or e-prescription, but the health secretary acknowledged that cannabis cannot be regulated in the same way as pills. He also dismissed some of the myths about CBD.

Liashko seemed to compare people who reject medicinal cannabis to people who reject the benefits of yoga, which are now widely accepted as scientifically proven. He’s kind of right.

“Communication campaigns against drug abuse in cannabis have been shown to reject the faces based on yoga and cannabis practiced illegally, using the method of ignoring the value of yoga as a medical science and discrediting the very idea of ​​yoga -Medicine.”

Under the bill, a central executive body would determine the THC percentage in cannabis through laboratory tests conducted by corporations, institutions and other organizations.

Ukrainian Congress member Kira Rudik tweeted that the medical cannabis movement in the country was originally led by the Holos party in 2019.

@Cabmin_UA supports bill legalizing cannabis for medicinal and industrial uses. @MoH_Ukraine: Medical cannabis, unlike “street” cannabis, has no psychoactive effects. The #Holos party was the initiator of this bill back in 2019. We firmly believe it’s about charity, not drugs. pic.twitter.com/4v1jOiapWW

— Kira Rudik (@kiraincongress) June 8, 2022

The draft law must now be approved in the Ukrainian parliament with at least 226 votes. A draft law on medicinal cannabis – Law No. 5596 – was not approved by the Ukrainian Parliament on July 13, 2021 and was sent back for revision.

Activists from the Patients of Ukraine organization and other organizations gathered in front of the Ukrainian Parliament and demanded the approval of the draft Law No. 5596 regulating the use of medicinal cannabis in Ukraine on July 13, 2021 in Kyiv receive.