2024-02-16 01:43:49
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has signed a law to legalize the use of cannabis for medical purposes, it became clear today from a parliamentary database cited by Reuters.
More than 6 million people, including cancer patients, citizens with post-traumatic stress disorder and wounded soldiers, need cannabis-containing medicines, a lawmaker said.
The law, which was signed by Zelensky on Tuesday, will take effect six months after it is officially promulgated, and the ban on the sale and cultivation of recreational cannabis will remain in place.
Parliament approved the legalization of medical marijuana back in December, and the measure was supported by military volunteers, but politicians from the party of former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko prevented the law from going to Zelensky for signature. According to them, the normative act threatens the future of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Health also supported the law. Now it has to prepare a list of diseases and health problems for which medical cannabis can be prescribed, BTA reported.
The law provides for the issuance of special permits for the cultivation and sale of marijuana, as well as the possibility of round-the-clock video surveillance of the producers by the police.